


The world starts with you

by cerellium



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Ending, Character Death Fix, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, V3 spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-01-18 11:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12387339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerellium/pseuds/cerellium
Summary: Shuichi’s eyes widened as he realized a vital piece of evidence he had almost missed. Kaede couldn’t have killed Rantaro. But then, what other possibility was there…? Maybe-“Could it have been suicide?”The entire trial went silent as the suggestion of the Ultimate Cosplayer, Tsumugi Shirogane, echoed throughout the room.(V3 SPOILERS/ Kaede lives AU)





	1. Chapter 1

He was sweating.

The hair on the back of his head was damp, matted to his neck in his feverish state.

The case was coming to a close. Akamatsu-san…Kaede, was the culprit. Everything fit. But Shuichi didn’t want to put that final piece into the puzzle—the final nail into her coffin.

Even though he had finally spoken up (with the encouragement of the culprit herself), as they were nearing their consensus of who did it and who to vote for, Shuichi was still frantically swiping down his monopad, looking for clues. 

His clammy finger, slicked with sweat, was often not detected by the touch screen, causing him to furiously tap at the screen, clumsy in his desperation.

_Was there something I missed? Was there something I missed? Anything, anything, anything, anything, anything anythinganythinganythinganything…_

He repeated these words continuously in his head as his eyes rapidly scanned each line of evidence on his monopad. 

Monopad…

Shuichi’s amber eyes widened, and his breath was immediately stolen from him as a feeling of intense relief washed over him like cold water. He realized he shouldn’t let himself feel this way too soon, it might just be nothing, after all.

But as of right now, that was good enough. He had something. _Something._ A sliver of hope. A sliver that could save Kaede.

“Everyone, wait!” The detective yelled, not sure where the conversation in the room was, for he was in his own concentrated bubble. Now that the bubble had popped, however, all their voices assaulted him, though they soon died down at his request.

“Eeeeeh? What is it, Saihara-chan? Trying to delay the inevitable?” The boy in the checkered scarf—Kokichi—teased venomously. 

“Now, now. Let’s give him a chance to speak. Did you discover something, Saihara-kun?” The Ultimate maid inquired gently, most likely in response to Shuichi’s frazzled state.

“I—I don’t know if it’s anything, but—“ his voice cracked as he spoke, and his eyes momentarily flicked up to meet with Kaede’s. 

Her expression was worried and hesitant, unsure of what Shuichi was doing. He could tell she believed she had killed Rantaro without a doubt, so she must have thought he was about to lie for her.

The detective simply stared into her eyes, unwavering, reassuring her he was still trying to find the truth and get to the bottom of this.

“I was looking over the evidence of the case once more, and I just noticed something strange about a certain picture of Amami-kun.”

“A certain picture? Get to the point, degenerate male! Not being up-front is typical male behavior!” Tenko shouted, her hands slamming into her podium. Shuichi was suddenly thankful for the fact that they had to stay in their assigned positions.

“Up-front is male behavior? More like their _fronts being up_ is!” Miu cackled, though was skillfully ignored by everyone in the room.

“A certain picture…? Do you possibly mean the one from right before Amami-kun was killed?” Korekiyo inquired, his eyes narrowing due to his piqued interest.

“Exactly,” Shuichi nodded, turning everybody’s attention to the photo. “In the photo, we can clearly see Amami-kun has his monopad with him.”

“Hmmm….Is that so strange?” Himiko asked lazily, her finger prodding at her pouted lips.

A barely audible intake of breath could be heard, and Shuichi immediately knew who it belonged to. His eyes snapped to the Ultimate Pianist, both loving and hating the newfound, reluctant hope in her eyes.

If he was wrong about _this_ as well…

“Amami…His monopad wasn’t at the scene of the crime, right?” Ryoma pondered, exchanging a nod with Shuichi.

“Hahaha! He probably hid it right before he died, just like how guys want their internet history deleted when they die!” Miu guffawed, amusing nobody but herself. “Who knows what kinky shit that guy was into!”

“Therein lies the problem,” Shuichi acknowledged, deftly grazing over her other unnecessary remarks. “If he had his monopad in this photo—the photo _right_ before he was supposedly killed—and it wasn’t at the crime scene…”

“Then he didn’t die right after that photo?” Kaito finished, a light now returning to his eyes as the realization dawned on him. 

“Maybe Atua took it as Rantaro’s offering to get into heaven!” Angie offered uselessly.

“Kukuku…It’s true, many cultures would bury their dead with coins or other such objects of value, in hopes of being able to have their souls accepted into the afterlife…” Korekiyo mused to himself, despite the absurdity of the thought.

“A-anyway…” The detective pressed on, “We had previously believed that Amami-kun was drawn to the camera by the flash, and that’s when the shot-put ball came into contact with him.” Shuichi had tried to say it in the gentlest way he could, but he still picked up on the small wince from Kaede. 

Digging his nails into his palms, he continued. “However, if that were the case, his monopad would have been lying right next to his body. Which it wasn’t.”

“Hold on a sec!” Angie chirped, swaying back and forth as she thought. “If Atua didn’t take the pad, is it possible Monokuma or one of the Monokubs did? Like, as clean up?”

“That’s a good question,” The detective acknowledged, promptly turning his attention to the said bears in question. “Well?”

“Y-you think we did something bad?” Monophanie stammered, shocked at suddenly being in the spotlight.

“Of course they do! We’re bad to the BOOOONEEEE!” Monokid shouted with enthusiasm, causing Monosuke to wince in annoyance.

“Like we’d clean up the crime scene for free!” the yellow bear shouted in annoyance, flashing his money for all the students to see.

“Right! Tell ‘em, father! We didn’t touch anything!” Monotaro finished off.

“Upupupu…How heartwarming…all my precious cubs, working together!” The monochrome bear swooned, holding his hands up to his cheeks as he blushed. “It warms my heart, it really does…And they’re right! Me or my cute little cubs aren’t allowed to mess with the crime scene, y’know? If we were allowed to do that, you wouldn’t be able to trust us or the crime scenes anymore!”

“ _Anymore?!_ We never trusted you damn bears in the first place!” Kaito shouted, his fists balled up passionately as he refuted the bears.

“Monokuma said him and his cubs can’t interfere with the crime scene…but what about the mastermind?” Kaede piped up softly, desperately.

Shuichi bit his lip at the sight of her, hating that he was the one who had done this to her. Even now, she was still holding onto that hope.

But that hope…it was wrong. He was wrong. There was no mastermind among the students. And it had led to all of this.

But now, hopefully, he would be able to make things right.

“No…I don’t think it was the mastermind, Akamatsu-san. Remember that the card reader had the dust in it still, so they couldn’t have left the library unseen after killing Amami-kun and taking his monopad.” Shuichi countered gently.

“So, if the mastermind didn’t mess with his monopad and these stupid bears didn’t, where is it?” Maki demanded impatiently, crossing her arms as she spoke. “Aren’t you just drawing out Akamatsu’s inevitable death?”

The detective flinched a bit at that, but stood fast. “No, as long as any mysteries remain, we can’t, in good conscience, vote. All of our lives are on the line, not just Akamatsu-san.”

“Maybe Amami-kun return to his room and put monopad there?” Gonta suggested, trying to be helpful.

“No, that would have been impossible!” Tenko shouted, getting riled up and assuming a fighting stance for no reason. “Me and that space-degenerate were out in the hall at the time, so we would have noticed if a flashy **men** ace like him had come out of the library!”

“To make one thing clear, before we continue …” Ryoma started, looking towards Kaede as he did so. “Is one thing we’re all agreeing on now that Akamatsu can’t be the murderer?”

“Huuuuh? Why not?” Miu balked, and the Ultimate Supreme Leader sighed in disgust.

“Really? Have you been listening at _all_ , you nasty cum-sock? That picture with the flash was supposed to have been taken just before the shot put ball fell on his head. And if that were true, the monopad would have been on the floor beside him.”

“Yet it wasn’t, and nobody took it from the library. Meaning Amami-kun did something with it—maybe hid it—himself.” Shuichi finished for him, earning a _‘correctamundo!’_ from the leader.

“Kukuku…So it would seem figuring out the mystery of the monopad is the key to this crime. But I agree then, however, that Akamatsu-san must not be the murderer.” Korekiyo supplied.

“W-what…?” Kaede stammered, not understanding how that could be possible. She had been so sure. She had been ready to head to her death, resigned herself to it…

And now that it may not have to happen…

She couldn’t help the tears that suddenly dripped down her cheeks unannounced, and she quickly rubbed at them before hopefully anybody could see.

But one sharp pair of eyes did.

“So far, here is what we have.” The detective started, laying the order of events bare for the less than bright students who may still be confused. “Amami-kun was indeed lured to the bookcase by the flash, just as intended. With monopad in hand, he investigated, when suddenly a shot-put ball fell from the higher bookcase. From here, he did something to hide or dispose of his monopad. And then he died.”

The room was silent for about two seconds before it erupted.

“ _Ehh?_ ”

“What the hell?”

“He just hid it for no reason?”

“And then he died? Just like that? Aren’t you just trying to cover for your girlfriend?”

“Everybody shut up!” Kaito roared, “You think Saihara wants to die, too? There’s still a mystery here, and that’s what the detective is for!”

The boy in questions eyes widened, and he pulled down the brim of his hat, a slight smile on his face. _Thank you, Momota-kun…_

“B-but now the question is…if I didn’t kill him, how did he die?” The blonde pianist croaked, still not fully convinced of her innocence. As if this was all just a dream. Too good to be true. Oh, how she wanted it to be true. But…

“Could it have been suicide?”

The entire trial room went silent, all 14 heads turning to face the bespectacled cosplayer.

The pin dropped, however, and madness resumed as people either agreed with the mad notion or disagreed.

“I know it’s just plain weird, but…” Tsumugi pondered over the ruckus she had created, looking up with her finger on her cheek. “It’s the only other explanation I can think of, you know? The mastermind, or anybody else for that matter, couldn’t have gone in or out without someone seeing. And if Akamatsu-san’s trap didn’t kill him, then the only other person who could have killed him was…himself?”

Shuichi’s brain felt like it would fry as he pondered this new absurd possibility, but it was just as the blue haired girl had said. It was the only thing that would make sense.

“But…would Amami-kun really have…killed himself?” Kaede asked uncertainly, not sure what to believe, and hesitant to get her hopes up.

“I agree. It is just too strange. I did not personally know Amami-kun for very long, but he definitely did not seem like the type who would do that! Not to mention, did he not claim he would put an end to this killing game?” Keebo asked, deep in thought as he crossed his arms and scratched at his chin.

“We barely knew each other, so _‘he didn’t seem like the type’_ is no excuse,” Maki interjected fiercely, annoyed with the thought. “It’s the only other thing that makes sense, so we just have to accept it.”

“He did say he was going to end this killing game…Maybe as time was running out, he realized there was no way after all. And after seeing that shot-put ball try to kill him, he figured he would take one for the team…” Ryoma suggested, pulling his hat slightly over his eyes. “I understand where he was coming from.”

“N-no way…Amami-kun…kill himself!?” Gonta gasped.

“But then I do have to wonder…why would he have killed himself with that shot-put ball? He must have realized it was someone’s trap to kill him, so if he wanted to do something as selfless as kill himself for the rest of us, killing himself with the ball would just pin blame on the one who had sprung the trap.” Kirumi conjectured, her eyes grave.

“ _Nishishi_ …Maybe he _wanted_ it to look like the person who had tried to kill him succeeded after all. That way, at least even if he’s killing himself, he knows the person who set the trap will go down with him.”

Shuichi wished he could have jumped across the podiums and smothered Kokichi with his own scarf before he had a chance to say that.

Just as the capped boy expected, the pianist didn’t react well, biting her quivering lip and lowering her head at Kokichi’s words.

“Nyeh…How would Amami have killed himself with the shot-put ball? T-that would be pretty difficult without magic…” Himiko thought aloud. 

“Difficult, but not impossible, right?” Tsumugi hummed, looking up as she thought. “It’s not like he whacked himself with it…He could have just put it back on the top of the shelf and stood under where he originally saw it fall.”

“Indeed, that does make sense.” Korekiyo murmured through his mask. “The odds of the original theory—the shot-put ball falling on him perfectly without any pre-planning the first time—would have been slim…The idea that he saw where it had fallen, put it back up, and stood under again does indeed make more sense, to me…”

Shuichi swallowed, his lips dry as his classmates murmured agreement and possibilities of what they thought transpired. Although Kaede was no longer pegged as the killer, was this really the truth? Something still didn’t feel right…but…it had to be, right? There was no other way.

“Monokuma,” The detective suddenly spoke up, both hands on his podium as he turned to look at the bear. “Can we put this trial in recess, in order to go investigate the library and look for Amami-kun’s monopad?”

“Hmmm~ I see, I see!” Monokuma mused, bobbing his head from the left to the right. “No!”

The Ultimate Detective guessed as much, and his hands dug deeper into his podium, never breaking eye contact with the bear. “Why is that? Is it because whatever we would find would give us the truth?”

“Don’t say such ominous things!” Monokuma bellowed, raising his arms. “Investigation time is over! It’s the class trial, you know!? If you wanna investigate to clear your own conscience after the trial, then be my guest! But as of right now, none of you leave until we get a vote!”

“I’ll just have to take you up on that, then.” Shuichi said simply.

“Well then, are we all in agreement?” Tsumugi tentatively asked. “That…Amami-kun really committed suicide?”

“It’s the only way.”

“Would seem so.”

“Atua will still accept Rantaro into Heaven despite that!”

With various other murmurs of agreement throughout the room, Shuichi made eye contact with Kaede one last time, before the black and white bear suddenly interjected.

“Well, that’s that, then! **IT’S VOOOTING TIIIIMEEEEE!** ”

On cue, the screens on their podiums lit up, with various faces to choose from. Saihara’s eyes zeroed in on Kaede’s picture. If they hadn’t found the truth, if he hadn’t noticed that one tiny detail, would he have really voted for her? _Could_ he have?

He squeezed his eyes shut, not even wanting to think about such a horrible reality where that scenario existed, and somewhat confidently picked Rantaro Amami-kun, the Ultimate mystery. 

“Now then! It seems the voting has finished. Let’s see the result…Who’ll be chosen as the blackened!? Did you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one!?”

As the stuffed bear said those words, a casino-like roulette machine started up, with each of the students faces on it. Every time it spun by Kaede’s face, Shuichi broke out into a cold sweat, even though he knew, he _knew_ …

She was safe.

Unless they were all wrong. The truth wasn’t discovered, and now they were all going to die.

With these thoughts swirling through his mind, Shuichi watched as it finally landed on Rantaro’s pixelated face, and suddenly a multitude of coins spewed out of the machine, which was hopefully a good thing…?

“ _Cooorreeeect!_ ” Monokuma bellowed as the results continued to flash on the device. “Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate Who-cares, was the culprit of his own demise!”

As soon as those words left the bears mouth, Shuichi noticed a pink figure buckle and fall from the corner of his eye, and he quickly made his way over to her.

“A-Akamatsu-san! Are you alright?” He put his arm around her shoulder to support her, and held out his other arm for her to grab onto as she stood up shakily.

Or at least, she _began_ to stand up shakily, but she soon gave up and fell back down. It wasn’t just her legs that were shaking, but her entire body. Everywhere Shuichi touched was met with tiny tremors.

It wasn’t just her, though. Shuichi was shaking too. The adrenaline, the fear, everything he felt, suddenly washed away with relief. 

Being released from the suffocating grip of all of those negative thoughts and emotions left him feeling as light as a leaf, floating, and shaking. He could only imagine how much more intense it was for her.

Having resigned herself to staying on the floor, Kaede hunched forward, her forehead lightly touching Shuichi’s chest as he kept one arm around her for support, while the other hand hovered near her with concern and uncertainty on what to do and where to go.

“I’m so glad…” Kaede sobbed out, barely audible. No doubt Shuichi was only able to hear it because he was so close to her.

“But I feel horrible for feeling glad. Amami-kun still d-died but…It wasn’t me that killed him…? I…I can still be with you all…” 

As she said this, Kaede’s hands grabbed onto Shuichi’s shirt as she continued to cry into it. The boy detective tried to cover her as much as he could, considering others were still in the trial room to witness this, and if he knew Akamatsu-san, then he knew she would regret everyone else seeing this when she was back to her usual, headstrong self.

“It’s okay to be glad.” Shuichi comforted, trying to sound firm despite his voice cracking without his permission. He would wipe away the tears beginning to form in his own eyes, but he didn’t want to let go of the girl in his arms. “I...I’m glad too. When…When I realized, that it might be you, I-I…” 

It was only a few minutes ago, but he already never wanted to think back to how he felt when every clue was pointing to Kaede as the murderer. All of the horrible feelings and thoughts came rushing back, like a punch to the chest, taking all of the air from his lungs. 

But he managed to keep himself grounded, since the sensation against his chest right now wasn’t a punch, but the forehead of the girl he wanted to protect. That he was _able_ to protect.

“You know, during the investigation…Investigating with you…I kept thinking how nice it would be if it wasn’t me. If I could just help you and be with you and do my best without worrying about anything…But I knew it would come to an end, b-because I was the one who did it…”

All he did was rub her back as she continued to speak.

“I regretted it so much…I told myself it was fine, because then you all would have gotten to live, but as we investigated I wished we really _were_ looking for someone else, someone who wasn’t me. I actually wished someone else had been killed, can you believe that? Just so that I could stay here with you…all. I’m so horrible…” She broke down again, burying her face in his shirt. 

Shuichi could feel his skin becoming damp on the other side of the striped fabric, but he didn’t care. He said everything he could to reassure her. Which was just the truth. 

“I also felt that way. I thought that I...I didn’t care who it was. I wanted it to be anybody but you, even thought that would mean them getting executed. If you're horrible, so am I.”

At that, Kaede hiccupped once more, before leaning away from him a bit to better look at him. “You’re _not_ horrible...” She said simply, like a child, and it couldn’t help but make him laugh.

As if causing a chain reaction, she, too laughed. Delirious, exhausted from the adrenaline and relief, they both sat together and chuckled quietly.

“ _Wooow_ ~~And I thought _I_ was heartless! Laughin' it up when a beloved classmate just died…” Monokuma preached, wiping away tears that weren’t there. 

“Shut up, you.” The Ultimate Child Caregiver snapped, and upon hearing these voices, the detective and pianist seemed to remember they weren’t alone as they stood on shaky legs. Shuichi offered Kaede a hand, and gently hoisted her up.

“Man, seriously! I almost thought you two were gonna start fucking right there on the floor!” Miu chided in an accusatory tone, pointing at the two of them.

“Tenko would not put it past a **men** ace to want to do something like that, even if it’s right after the death of a friend!”

“Seriously…Just how do you view guys?” Kaito sighed, scratching his goatee in defeat.

“Sooo, like, you mentioned a punishment, but since Rantaro killed himself, will there still be one?” Angie questioned, looking to Monokuma. “Or is the real punishment going to be him not getting into heaven since he killed himself? Nyaha!”

“Eh?! Did you not say earlier that God would still accept him despite that fact?” Keebo exclaimed, as if on Rantaro’s behalf.

“That’s right, pops! What are you gonna do about the punishment!?” Monotaro demanded, seemingly on the edge of his seat.

“UuuuUuuh….What a relief, does that mean no punishment? Punishments are too gory anyway!” Monophanie claimed, hiding her face in her hands…paws…things.

“Don’t be a retard! The punishments are the best part!” Monokid insisted, earning a quiet look from Monodam.

“I never said you necessarily have to be ALIVE for punishment time…And how else will I show you aaaaalll that I’m being 100% serious with these punishments unless I show just how brutal they can be? Besides, didn’t anybody ever tell you that suicide is a sin?”

After coming to that conclusion, Monokuma stood up proudly and bellowed from his core:

“I’ve prepared a special punishment for the Ultimate _Who-gives-a-crap_ , Rantaro Amami! Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… ** _PUNISHMENT TIIIIME!_** ”

With that, Monokuma’s gavel fell on a cartoonish red button, and the punishment commenced.

* * *

In bad taste typical of Monokuma, a screen flickered to life, displaying a dead, pixel version of Rantaro being dragged away by a likewise pixel version of Monokuma.

Along with the graphics, the words that flashed up on the screen read: 

**GAME OVER**

_***Rantaro has been found guilty. Time for the punishment!***_

Shuichi quickly turned to the pianist beside him, looking to her and then to the elevator behind them. It seems it was out of service until the punishment was over.

“Akamatsu-san. I, I don’t think you should watch this.” Shuichi insisted urgently, yet also hesitantly. She already felt bad enough about the whole situation, and even if she didn’t kill Rantaro, the events that led to his death were still possible, unfortunately, because of her plan.

The last thing she needed was to see his dead body being strung up, beaten, or whatever the hell else Monokuma had planned.

The detective was worried she might argue, and he’d really have nothing to say against that, since she could do what she wanted after all. Maybe say something like ‘no, I need to see this.’ But thankfully, there was no such argument. She was exhausted—her eyes were already half closed with dried tears staining her cheeks and puffy red eyes. And so she simply nodded in agreement and turned her eyes to the floor.

Shuichi looked down at her for half a second, before he swiftly removed his cap and plopped it on her head instead. She looked up in surprise, before cracking a smile and holding onto the hat, adjusting the brim to block her vision further.

And then the punishment really began.

A large screen flickered to life, showcasing Rantaro’s body and the location. 

_At least we don't have to see it in person_ , Shuichi thought dryly.

Rantaro’s body was seated in a classroom, unnecessarily tied up so he couldn’t escape, and the boy himself was dressed in a traditional Japanese school uniform—all black, with a row of buttons all up the front.

The feed cut away for a second, to showcase the supposed title card of the punishment.

**‘TEACHERS PET’**  
_**Ultimate ??? Rantaro Amami’s execution**_

Upon seeing the name of the execution, Shuichi’s hand immediately covered his mouth as he thought. Could the punishments be related to their Ultimate talents? If so, this could be a hint. 

Teachers pet…? Could this imply he was favored over other students for some reason…? Or was he eager to please authority figures?

However, the detective didn’t have time to think about it for that much longer, as the feed cut back to the already-dead Rantaro, sitting in the empty classroom. The desk he was sitting at was the only one in the room, dead in the center.

The sliding doors to the classroom opened suddenly, and in came male and female students, dressed in the same uniform Rantaro was wearing as they begun to circle him.

Upon looking closer at the students, you could see they were clearly dummies, held up by string as they danced around him, yet that wasn’t what Shuichi was focused on. What he noticed, was that all of the dummies of the students were injured in fatal ways. 

One of the student marionettes had a knife through its chest, another had no head whatsoever, or had a noose around its neck, and so on. As they circled him, they took the weapons out of their own bodies, whatever they may be, and used them to begin slashing, hacking, and beating Rantaro.

Even if Rantaro was still alive, none of the injuries dished out by the puppets were fatal, so far. Painful, yes, but not deadly. It was definitely still a gory sight though, and Shuichi glanced down at Kaede just to make sure she wasn’t watching. But even without sight, the sounds weren’t exactly pleasant.

However, the detective was just waiting for the kicker. The thing that would really kill Rantaro. Would the students bring out a chainsaw? Something gory and over-the-top like that seemed right up Monokuma’s alley.

But no, suddenly all of the ‘students’ dropped down, dead, as fake blood oozed out of them, and Rantaro was left as the sole survivor. Well, he would have been if he was alive.

Maybe the punishments weren’t death, but torture? Just as Shuichi was thinking of this possibility, a giant apple suddenly fell down from nowhere, crushing Rantaro’s corpse instantly. 

Not just Rantaro, however—the blue Monokub, Monokid, was it? Suddenly got pushed into the fray, landing next to Rantaro right before the apple fell. Since Rantaro was already dead, it seems the execution was more for that blue bear than anything.

However, one of Rantaro’s limbs—his arm, it looked like—stuck out of the giant red fruit, much like the classic image of a worm coming out of a big red apple.

For the finishing touch, Monokuma arrived and slapped a sticker that said ‘A+’ on the apple. And then, the feed was cut.

* * *

After what they had seen sank in, it didn’t take long for the teenagers reactions to fill the room.

“What the _fuck?_ ”

“Oh my god!”

“That wasn’t real, right?”

“Poor Amami-kun, how could something so cruel—“ 

But the student’s voices were soon, and promptly, drowned out by the much more obnoxious voices of the Monokubs.

“M-Monokid!” Monotaro shouted.

“ _…BLRBLRBLRBLRB!_ ” Monophanie gurgled as she threw up.

Monosuke didn’t seem too bothered by it, but surprisingly, Monokuma himself seemed to care ever so slightly.

“My sweet, darling Monokid! Claimed as collateral damage…” He lamented, and all Shuichi could do was quirk an eyebrow, not believing for one second that he really cared.

“…On second thought, I guess it’s okay though! After all, I still got four more cubs!”

Aaand there it was.

The other students had engaged in a back-and-forth with Monokuma, asking _how_ he could do such a thing, _why_ he would do such a thing…

But honestly, Shuichi didn’t care about that. It was already clear to him the bear had no sense of humanity or morals. This killing game was already a testament to that, so demanding answers on that front was useless.

There was, however, something that he did want to know. 

“Monokuma,” He called out to the bear, not knowing if his soft voice would even be heard amongst the uproar the execution had caused. Unsurprisingly, however, the mechanical headmaster snapped to attention.

“Ah, what is it, what is it? Does the detective want something with me? Do you—“ The bear stopped momentarily, however, to brandish his claw, his eye glowing red as his attention was suddenly captured by the others in the room. “—SHUT UP!! Quiet down, class! And you, too, kids! Your old man’s ears aren’t what they used to be!”

“Sorry ‘bout that! Now what did ya want?” He resumed in his playful tone once more, as if nothing had happened. Thanks to that however, the entire room was silent, waiting for what Shuichi had to say. Monokuma probably knew what the detective was going to bring up, and most likely wanted the class to hear for whatever reason.

“Amami-kun’s execution…The way he was killed, and the title: ‘Teachers Pet’... That was a clue, wasn’t it? For whatever his talent was?”

“ _Upupupu!_ As expected of the Ultimate Detective, Saihara-kun! You’ve got some great ideas there. Whether you’re right or not, though, I can’t tell you! Doesn’t matter hoow smart you are if you can never _confirm_ your super duper theories, you cocky brat!” Monokuma lectured, suddenly becoming angry at the end.

“Eh?! But, doesn’t saying it like that already confirm that he was right?” Monophanie gasped, beads of sweat somehow forming on her mechanical body.

“AH! I guess you’re right. But even if it was a hint, like I said, it’s not like anyone’s gonna tell you what his talent was anyway, so just don’t think about difficult stuff like that! Work hard and do your best to graduate! Cuz the funs only just begun!”

And with that, Monokuma disappeared in his unusual manner, as usual.

The Monokubs followed suit, leaving the emotionally drained students alone in the trial room.

“I still can’t believe all this shit…doing that to a dead body…How fucked up can you get?” Kaito asked, gripping his forehead with a sweaty palm.

“I agree, it was just plain cruel…” Tsumugi whimpered. 

“Instead of uselessly freaking out over what happened to a dead body,” Maki interjected, “Just be thankful it wasn’t one of us.”

“Nyeh…she has a point…at least if Amami committed suicide, a murder hasn’t officially happened yet…right?” Himiko asked, bordering between her typical bored, monotone voice, and a somewhat worried tone.

“Th…that’s right!”

Everybody in the room turned in surprise to the unexpected voice that had suddenly piped up.

It was none other than the Ultimate Pianist, clenching a certain detectives hat in her hands as she spoke somewhat hesitantly, yet hopefully.

“Yumeno-san has the right attitude on this—we still haven’t succumbed to their crazy killing game, then! We won’t give them what they want!” With every word that left her mouth, her posture became straighter and straighter, until she was balling her fists in the air, a pose of hope and determination that had become all-too familiar to Shuichi already. It made him smile to see it.

“Eeeeeh?” Kokichi drawled out in a raised pitch that also succeeded in raising the hairs on Shuichi’s neck. He knew what the little dictator was going to say, but wasn’t sure how to stop it.

“Didn’t you already try to kill somebody, Akamatsu-chan? Who are you preaching to? None of _us_ have succumbed…” He raised his fingers up to his lips as he smirked. “But haven’t _you?_ ”

Shuichi knew _what_ he was going to say, but not _how_ he was going to say it. Listening to that had hurt even him, so he could only imagine how Kaede felt. 

“That’s enough, Ouma-kun!” Shuichi snapped quickly, as if he could cut off the words that had already been said. His face was hot with a rage that was uncharacteristic of his usual cool and composed attitude.

“That’s right, you asshole! We already agreed we understood where Akamatsu was coming from! She did it to protect all of us, not that you deserve it, you little shit!” Kaito backed up.

“Not to mention, Akamatsu-san was not intending to kill one of us, so can we really say that she had fallen prey to the killing game, where the point is to kill our fellow classmates?” Shuichi continued, trying his best to not just shout at the child-like boy and keep a level-head. 

Hearing Kaito yell at him had done wonders to help ease his anger somewhat, even if it was just because he was experiencing the pleasure of yelling vicariously.

The detective wasn’t sure how many in the room agreed with Kokichi’s way of thinking, or if they forgave Kaede, but if there were any that agreed with Kokichi, they didn’t seem to be speaking up, which was a relief. 

“Indeed, instead of all of this arguing amongst ourselves, we should return to our dorms and take a much needed rest,” Kirumi added coolly as she walked over to the doors of the elevator, pressing the button and stepping aside to let all the students in before she entered.

At her words, it seemed everyone suddenly realized how tired they were. It was clear not just by appearances, but the silence as well. 

As the last of the students were ushered into the elevator, Kirumi herself stepped in, letting the doors close behind her as she pressed the button that would bring them back to the surface.

“And,” she continued softly, as the sounds of the elevator whirred all around them. “Let us be thankful for the fact that, if a killing had to happen, at least it resulted in the least amount of deaths possible.”

* * *

“Don’t let what Ouma-kun said get to you,” Shuichi said, stealing a glance at the blonde girl beside him to gauge her reaction as they walked.

“I’ll try,” She said honestly.

It was already dark out by the time they had come out of the trial grounds and back to the surface, and so everybody had parted ways, mainly to return to their dorms. The detective and pianist were mainly quiet as they walked, too bombarded by thoughts and emotions of what had happened to really say much of anything.

It was a wonder how anybody would be able to sleep tonight.

As they arrived back into the dormitory building, Shuichi walked Kaede back to her door, which wasn’t much of a grand gesture of chivalry considering how close their rooms all were to each other.

Kaede grabbed the handle to her room, but made no move to turn it or open the door yet.

“Thank you, Saihara-kun.” Was all she said. What else more could she say? There were no words to express all of the things she had to say to him, or all the things she had to thank him for. She could write a 20 page essay and it still wouldn’t be enough.

He nodded once, a smile on his face as he watched her take the first few steps into her room.

“See you tomorrow” He told her.

The fact that he was able to say those words to her was enough.


	2. Chapter 2

The Ultimate Pianist laid in bed, eyes wide and vacant as she stared at the ceiling. 

A glance to the clock revealed that it was seven o’clock—one hour before the morning announcement was scheduled to go off, but she couldn’t get herself to go back to sleep.

‘Back to sleep’ was being generous, however. It would be a surprise if she had even _gotten_ any sleep in the first place. Between the nightmares of her almost-execution and the anxiety of facing all of the other students, she had been a bundle of nerves, wound up way too tightly to relax and drift off.

She must have at _some_ point, though, considering the fact that she awoke in a cold sweat just a few moments ago. Thanks to Shuichi, she hadn’t actually _seen_ how brutal Monokuma’s punishments could be, but based off of the sounds she heard and the others reactions to it, her imagination was still able to fabricate something horrible in her dreams all the same. 

Perhaps it would have been better if she actually _had_ seen Rantaro’s execution. The fear of the unknown, what it _could_ have been…it seemed to have just kicked her imagination into overdrive, and it tormented her throughout the night. 

Despite her lack of sleep, Kaede was still thankful it was morning. The night had basically just been one long waiting game to when she could finally stop being alone with her intrusive thoughts, and she hastily kicked off the blankets to her bed as she headed to the shower.

She no longer had to deal with the imaginary terrors of the night—no, _now_ she had to deal with the very real human beings who she had wronged. Who may now all hate her. Nobody had spoken up against her besides Kokichi after the trial, but that wasn’t saying much. Despite appearances, people can be thinking anything. She herself had already proven that to be true. 

The blonde lathered her hair vigorously in frustration, and became even more so when she felt her eyes sting.

It was never a lie that she wanted everybody to get along and work together. Skewed as it was, even her attempted murder had been a testament to that. It was hard enough to get them to listen to her and band together _before_ , so now…? She may have just pulled the entire group of students apart.

But Shuichi was who was worrying her the most.

They hadn’t talked much yesterday, understandably. After the trial, everyone had returned to their rooms, so she didn’t have a chance to really speak to him, apologize to him, or really explain _anything_ to him. 

He had trusted her. He said so himself, that he couldn’t trust just anybody with the information he had told her, but he decided to take the risk and put his trust in her.

And she had trampled all over that.

He may have saved her, but she doubted their relationship would be anything like it was before. Knowing him, though, even if he hated her and despised her for using his information in a twisted way, he would no doubt still be politely friendly to her. But that’s all he would be: polite, friendly, and distant.

Even if he found new clues, he wouldn’t go to her first. Even if he needed to investigate, there’s no way he would trust her enough to invite her again.

The pianist finished drying off and walked to the closet full of clothes—the same uniform, over and over…it really made her feel like some sort of cartoon character. Just looking at it was surreal. 

As she finished doing up her tie and putting on her backpack, she stole another glance at the clock. 7:50. The morning announcement would be going off soon.

Kaede knew a handful of the students relied on that announcement to wake up, or at least as their cue to head to the dining hall, and so this is where her dilemma came into play: should she quickly make her way to the dining hall _now_ , in order to be earlier than everyone else, or should she wait a bit?

No matter how she thought about it, walking into the dining hall when everybody was already gathered would just be impossible—even _thinking_ about it gave her anxiety. All of their stares locking onto her as soon as she steps in through the door, not knowing what they think of her…

It was so unlike her to think like this, to be scared of being in the spotlight, to be around friends, people…It was new to her, and knowing what had made it possible just made her bite her lip in regret.

While Kaede mulled over her options, however, the announcement snapped her out of her trance, deciding on her course of action for her.

“Shoot,” She hissed under her breath, but managed to stay calm. _It’s okay, being too early is also weird. If I leave now and trickle in at around the same time as everybody else, that’s probably the best…_

However, there _was_ another option—the option she _truly_ considered the best, but didn’t dare even humor. And that was walking to the dining hall with Shuichi. 

She knew going with someone else would make her feel better and give her the support she needed, but to ask that of him would just be selfish, she had already relied on him too much—from his information, to him saving her…not to mention, she was sure he probably felt betrayed by her, so she wanted to give him space.

“Agghh, geez!” Kaede groaned in defeat, hating this feeling of helplessness, and knowing there was nothing she herself could do to remedy it. _It’s so unlike me to get inside my own head like this. Whatever! Just go, it’ll be fine!_

With those last thoughts of encouragement and a light slap to both of her cheeks, Kaede pulled the door to her room open violently, marching out with her head held high.

Or at least, she was about to, but as soon as she swung open her door and was about to take that first step, she yelped in surprise as she almost collided with a dark figure that was in front of her door.

“Ah?! Saihara-kun!” She yelled, half in surprise and half in greeting.

“Gah?! Hi!” He quickly shouted back. It seems he had gotten just as surprised as she had, probably due to her reaction, and they ended up scaring each other. She couldn’t help but feel a bit of déjà vu at this situation.

The pianist was about to apologize for startling him and ask him why he was at her door, or if he needed her for anything, but as soon as she finally looked up at him, her mind got completely derailed by a much more pressing issue.

“Your hat!” She exclaimed simply, and the now hatless boy merely smiled bashfully in response, ruffling the back of his head as he looked away.

“Ah…yeah. I…decided I don’t need it anymore,” he confessed, his eyes gradually returning to her as he spoke.

“Don’t need it anymore? The reason you wore it was because you…were always scared of uncovering the truth, right?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, though it wasn’t as meek as before, “I used to be scared of uncovering the truth, but…”

He paused for a second, mid sentence, his mouth still open slightly as he looked at her. 

“But if it wasn’t for my skills as a detective, you…You would have been…” Shuichi let the word they both knew came after that hanging in the air, not sure if he wasn’t saying it for her sake, or if he just _couldn’t_ say it. 

“What I’m trying to say is…My skills as a detective were able to save you. That’s why…It’s thanks to you, Akamatsu-san, that I can take pride in my skills now, and have confidence in my deductions. They may have been what put you on that path as well but…I was also able to help you.” He smiled, and looked down at the ground beneath them as he did so. “So how can I deny them anymore?”

Kaede didn’t know what to say, she simply looked up at him, the area between her eyebrows scrunching up as her lips formed a tight line. Her heart swelled at his words, and not only was she happy for him, and that he had finally seemed to accept himself and be happy in his own skin, but…

Did this mean he didn’t hate her?

She still didn’t have the courage to ask something like that. Besides, this wasn’t about her right now.

“That’s awesome, Saihara-kun! Seriously, you don’t know how happy I am to hear that! It’s about time you finally understand how amazing you are, you know.” she beamed at him, raising her fists in a supportive gesture. “Not to mention, I said it before, and it looks like _my_ deduction was right: you’re a lot more handsome with your hat off…Though you were already good looking to begin with, so…I guess it’s kind of a no-brainer you’d look good with your hat off, huh?”

“Ah, um…yeah, thanks…It’ll take some getting used to.” The poor boy stammered. Everything he had said about why he had decided to take off his hat was true. Though she didn’t have to know another contributing factor was because she thought he’d look better without it.

However, not used to being in the spotlight, _especially_ when it came to being complimented by the fairer sex, the detective couldn’t help but feel his face go hot. Shuichi instinctively went to go grab the brim of his hat to offer him some coverage, but upon grabbing at nothing, he settled for tugging at his bangs, using his hand to subtly shield his face as he did so.

Kaede picked up on how he tried to reach for a hat that wasn’t there, and leaned over to look at him as they walked down through the dorm. “Haha, old habits die hard, huh? I wonder how long it will take you to stop trying to adjust your hat? I guess that means you have phantom hat syndrome.” She said matter-of-factly, holding up her index finger as she declared it so. 

“Well, out of all the syndromes I could have, I guess I should be thankful all I have to worry about is an invisible hat…?” Shuichi mused seriously, and the two laughed as they left the dorm building.

“Hey, you two!”

The mentioned two both looked back to see Kaito come out of the dorm building behind them, saluting with two fingers as he caught up.

“Good morning, Momota-kun,” Shuichi greeted politely, though his eyes quickly drifted up to the astronauts hair. “Did you just wake up and immediately run out of your room?”

“Whoa! Yeah, how’d you know? You really are the Ultimate Detective, man.” Kaito acknowledged, completely genuine and not sarcastic at all, which was both surprising and a little endearing.

“If that’s all it took to be the Ultimate detective, I’d be a little worried…” Shuichi hummed, scratching his cheek as he did so. “It’s not hard to guess, you can tell just by looking at your hair.”

Kaito couldn’t have cared less, and he just shrugged—the astronaut didn’t even go to adjust or fix his hair even after having it pointed out. “I don’t care about stuff like that, so it’s fine.” 

Seeing his bed head reminded Kaede of a certain something, however, and she excitedly leaned forward to be able to look at Kaito, who was walking on the other side of Shuichi. 

“Hey, Momota-kun, have you noticed anything different about Saihara-kun?”

“Something different?” He repeated, and looked down at the boy in-between the two of them. You’d have thought Kaede asked him a complicated riddle or something from the way he hummed and hawed and scratched his facial hair as he thought.

He must have eventually made the connection of their bed-head related conversation to something about Shuichi, and he snapped his fingers as if he had made the discovery of the century. “Dude, your hats gone!”

“Yeah! Doesn’t he look a lot more handsome without it?” Kaede supplied, still in awe that it took him that long to notice. Guess he really _didn’t_ care about appearances much.

“Well I don’t know about handsome or anything, but you do look a lot more reliable when you can see your eyes like that, man!” and after saying so, Kaito supportively slapped the detective on the back, causing him to yelp and stumble forward a bit as they continued on to the dining hall.

* * *

Due to the talk Kaede and Shuichi had at the dorms, plus the fact that they ran into Kaito, the three of them _did_ end up entering the dining hall after everybody else had already gathered there. But it was fine, because she wasn’t alone.

Upon entering the room, the breakfast Kirumi cooked up immediately hit them, and Kaede’s stomach grumbled in response. Due to all of the chattering going on, however, it was thankfully impossible to hear. 

She couldn’t enjoy a meal cooked for her with all of the others until she had spoken with everybody and properly apologized. 

And no doubt if she didn’t say anything, Kokichi definitely would. She had made eye contact with him as soon as the three of them walked in, though he had simply smirked at her and happily welcomed them with: _‘If it isn’t the three musketeers!’_

If she was being generous, Kaede _might_ have been able to fool herself into thinking he was giving her a chance to apologize before he said anything like yesterday. 

Kaede waited patiently for the commotion to die down, gripping at the straps on her shoulders so tightly that her knuckles had become as white as her backpack. Unlike Kaito, everybody had immediately taken notice of Shuichi’s hat—or lack thereof—as soon as he entered. 

Perhaps it was because Kaede had already said it to him and it therefore wasn’t embarrassing anymore, but the comments about how handsome he was didn’t seem to have much effect on him anymore—or at least, they didn’t make him blush. 

Kaede smiled as she watched how supportive everyone was, and felt a sort of pride at how Shuichi had opened up since she first met him. He would have been fine, even without her here, huh? 

Once the hubbub had died down and Shuichi and Kaito took a seat along with everyone else at the table while Kirumi laid out extravagant breakfast foods—both western and Japanese—Kaede remained standing and cleared her throat. 

“Everyone…” She called out, thought she didn’t really have to try hard to get their attention. She was the only one still standing away from the table, so some were already looking at her. “I…just want to apologize. Properly. About what I attempted to —or, or what I _did_ do.” 

“Akamatsu-san, you didn’t—“ Shuichi immediately jumped to her aid, looking ready to get up from the table, but she held out her hand to stop him. He couldn’t always come to her rescue, and she needed to say this, between her and her classmates, and friends. 

“No, I did. Even if it failed, there’s no denying what I tried to do. Despite my intentions, it’s an undeniable fact that I tried to kill. And despite that I wasn’t _trying_ to kill one of you—I, I would _never_ —it’s an undeniable fact that what I did still led to the death of one of our friends. There’s a saying that people judge themselves based off of their own intentions, but judge others by their actions… 

…It’s true, only I know what my intentions really were. But my actions are undeniable. I…I understand if you don’t trust me anymore, but I promise I’ll never attempt anything like that. Ever again!” And with that Kaede bowed sharply, almost violently, as she flung herself down 90 degrees. 

“And, even if you don’t trust me, at least trust in each other. I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me, but I still hope you all get along, and don’t let my actions tear you guys apart. You have to stick together.” The pianist finished, frowning with determination as she continued to stare at her feet in her bowing position. 

She stayed like that even after she had finished her apology, a combination of showing just how sorry she was, and not wanting to see how they were looking at her. 

“ _’You’_ have to stick together? Why are you acting like it has nothing to do with you?” Kaito asked, though it wasn’t angry, he was genuinely curious, as if he couldn’t understand why he should be mad at the girl. “It should be _we_ , right?" 

Still looking at the floor, hearing his words made Kaede’s eyes misty, but she didn’t look up. Shuichi and Kaito were both more prone to forgive her, so despite the fact that his words were appreciated, they were not unexpected. She waited anxiously for what the others would say…That is, if they decided to say anything at all. 

“Very nicely put, Momota-kun,” a soft but strong and elegant voice rang out—Kirumi’s—followed by the sound of liquids being poured into various cups. “Was it not you, Akamatsu-san, who said we should all work together, and remain friends once we leave here? I believe that holds true, even now.” 

“Yes, was there something you have done that would cause us to not trust you anymore, or work together?” Keebo asked, in his usual matter-of-fact, yet kind voice. 

Kaede finally allowed herself to look up from her bow a bit, just so that she could see the faces of her classmates, but she remained bowed all the same. “Huh?” she said eloquently. “But I…” 

“Listen.” Ryoma suddenly spoke up unexpectedly, swiftly cutting her off. His deep voice was like a gong, calling them all to attention as it reverberated through the small room. “I’m a convicted killer. I was put away for murdering someone, and I did so with hatred in my heart. I murdered out of vengeance. But you…” 

He tilted his hat down as he smiled, but just as quickly lifted it back up so that he could look the pianist in the eyes. “You didn’t murder. You attempted to kill, yeah, but not out of hatred. For hope. Out of desperation. For the sake of others. So…” 

Now the Ultimate Tennis Pro was no longer addressing Kaede, but the rest of the room. “If any of you got a problem with _Akamatsu_ , then you sure as shit got a problem with _me_.” 

Kaede wasn’t bowing anymore; she had slowly risen to full height in her shock as she listened to Ryoma, who was, except for Kokichi, one of the most unexpected to come to her aid. 

“Nyeh…I’m pretty sure we all feel the same way, without having to say it, right…?” Himiko said lazily, as if having to even explain herself was tiresome, and that Kaede should just know how they all feel. “I’m pretty sure Ouma is the only one who had a problem with you, anyway…” 

“Ehh!?” He exclaimed, dropping his fork with a dramatic clank. “Accusing me of having a problem with Akamatsu-chan, when all I did was state facts yesterday…You…You guys…really, you’re just…WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” 

“Shut up, you menace. Akamatsu-san!” Tenko shouted, suddenly getting fired up as she quickly stood from the table, slamming her hands down and causing the dishes to clatter. “Tenko has decided to speak for everyone when she says everyone forgives you, and understands why you did what you did. If anyone bothers you about it, just tell Tenko and she’ll beat them up for you! But only if they’re a male!" 

“G-Gonta won’t beat anyone up, since violence ungentlemanly, but Gonta believe in Akamatsu-san too! Akamatsu-san has good heart.” 

“Nyahaha! And Atua says all is forgiven, so that’s that!” 

“Blaming and hating you when you were thinking of all of us in the first place would just be plain cruel, right…?” 

“How stupid are you that you even felt the need to apologize in the first place? Anybody that has a problem with what you did must want to die, since we’re only alive because of that.” Maki also surprisingly threw in her two cents, but of course her way of reassuring Kaede also involved calling her stupid. 

“Were we _supposed_ to be mad at this concave-chested bitch? At least only one person died, and it was that skeevy lookin’ guy! Hah-hahahaha!” 

“Kekeke…Wonderful…Human connections truly are a wonderful thing, and I’d wager the reason they were able to flourish as they have was thanks to you…Akamatsu-san…” 

All the Ultimate Pianist could do was stare with her mouth open. 

When she wasn’t being plagued from nightmares last night, this confrontation was the other thing that destroyed any chance of her getting any sleep. She had played out how the scene would go so many times in her head, curling up in bed with anxiety to the point of nausea. 

Even in her most generous, best-case-scenario rundowns of the scene in her mind, it ended with them giving her a chance to prove and redeem herself. But what she got instead…It was better than anything she could have asked for, or deserved. 

In response to their words, she had none, and instead fat tears began to drip out of her eyes. Before it could get too out of control, though, she quickly jammed the base of her palms into each eye, as if forcefully pushing the tears back in. 

“Thank you, everyone…” She managed to get out in a strong voice as she continued pressing her hands into her eyes. “Seriously, this so isn’t like me!” 

And with that, Kaede pulled her hands away from her face and curled them into fists. “Alright! Let’s continue working together, and make sure another killing never happens ever again!” 

Even to get out of here, killing somebody wasn’t worth it. She knew that better than anybody. Even if she hadn’t _actually_ killed, _thinking_ you had and knowing the repercussions…she couldn’t imagine any of her friends here doing such a thing. 

“Indeed, now let us all eat breakfast. I’ve prepared both Japanese and western, depending on your preferences.” Kirumi said pleasantly, and despite saying ‘all’, she herself remained standing by the cart of food she had been wheeling in and out of the kitchen. 

“Toujou-chan! Your food is seriously too good! Please stay alive so I can eat your cooking forever!” Kokichi yelled as he stuffed a variety of foods into his mouth, from breakfast sausages, to pancakes, eggs, grilled fish and rice. “Actually, just be my mom!” 

“Don’t say such creepy things…” Himiko pouted, throwing Kokichi a disapproving look. “Are you into age-play or something…?” 

“If by age-play you mean me acting like a spoiled brat while Toujou-chan pampers me…” the dubious leader said as he poked another sausage into his mouth. “Then yep, I am.” 

“T-Tenko isn’t sure what age-play is, but somehow she gets the feeling that Yumeno-san shouldn’t know what it is…" 

“What a shocker that this lolicon witch-bitch knows what age-play is! And you fucks call _me_ the perverted one!” The Ultimate Inventor chimed in, taking a violent bite out of a sausage. 

“Um…I think it’s still safe to peg you as the perverted one…” Tsumugi piped up, making it a point to look down at Miu’s plate, which was now two pancakes and a sausage, rearranged to look like a… _certain_ area of a man’s body. 

“Speaking of how great your cooking is, Toujou-san, it actually reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about,” the Ultimate Pianist announced, having sat down at a free spot at the table as she ate. 

“What...don’t tell me you want her to be your mom, too?” Maki said incredulously, rolling her eyes as she picked at her plate of fish, miso soup, and a side of rice. 

“She’vv _mu_ mahm!” Kokichi interrupted defensively, having apparently already called dibs on having Kirumi as a mom, though what he said was almost indiscernible with the amount of food in his mouth. 

“N-no, not that, It’s just…We don’t really have much of a routine here, right? Sure, there’s the morning and night announcements, and we meet up here every morning, but besides that, I think without some sort of schedule or direction, that can lead to people feeling restless, or like they don’t know what to do.” 

“Hmm, that’s true…” Shuichi acknowledged as he popped his chopsticks into his mouth, having opted for a traditional Japanese breakfast along with Maki. “No doubt that’s on purpose, having nothing much to do…As an attempt to drive us to kill.” 

“Killing just because you’re bored?! What kind of monster would do that?” Kokichi demanded with an empty mouth this time, as sweat began to roll off his face, apparently horrified at the prospect. 

“Haven’t you been saying this whole time how you wish the killing would start, because it’s boring otherwise…?” Keebo asked incredulously, trying—and failing—to keep up with Kokichi’s mood swings. Which was hard enough for a human, let alone a robot. 

“Exactly, so that’s why I was thinking, maybe we could hold classes? I mean, we _are_ all Ultimates after all, so who better to learn from? And it would give us structure and something to do, not to mention help us get closer!” The blonde pianist smiled, looking around expectantly at all the faces at the table, figuring at least _some_ would be on board with the idea. 

Nobody really said anything, though, and Kaede started to sweat. 

“Come on, you guys!” she scolded, growing defensive as she looked around at them. “Don’t tell me you all thought just now that classes are a pain, even in this situation?” 

“But they _are_ a pain…” Himiko protested. 

“Think about it!” Kaede insisted, clearly not willing to give up so easily. “Angie-san could hold art lessons or classes, which sounds fun, right? After music, art was always my favourite! And speaking of which, I could hold music classes and help whoever’s interested in playing the piano? And Chabashira-san could teach self defense classes, and Toujou-san could teach us how to cook, considering she _is_ the best at it here.” 

“Well, I don’t care what all you greaseballs decide to do, but _I_ aint teaching anyone shit. You think I have the patience for you idiots? I bet I’d have a better time teaching a fucking monkey!” Miu protested unnecessarily. Kaede hadn’t included her in the example for…a reason. 

“Although the idea of one of you taking over my work for me, even for teaching purposes, is not one I desire…If you truly wish, I would be happy to be assisted in the kitchen, and show you how I work.” Toujou agreed with a pleasant smile, causing a thrilled Kaede to inwardly celebrate. Cooking lessons from Kirumi had been the one she was most looking forward to. 

“Tenko would be happy to offer self-defense classes! For the girls only, though! Unless it’s to beat up, I don’t want to touch you filthy degenerate males. Not to mention, it’s very unfortunate but you _**men** aces_ already have enough of a natural advantage…Though Tenko wouldn’t protest if any males want to come to Tenko as a sparring partner!” 

_Sparring partner, huh…_ Kaede sweat a little as she smiled nervously at the thought. She could just imagine what Tenko’s idea of ‘sparring’ with the boys would be and it was probably very…one-sided. 

Still, Kaede was happy at the positive reception from Tenko and Kirumi at least, though the lack of response from the others was slightly discouraging. _She_ had thought it was such a good idea, at least. 

_Though of course the one who came up with it would think so…_ The pianist thought to herself sheepishly. 

“I’m sure they just need some time to…think about it,” Shuichi said suddenly, probably noticing the pianists expression from his seat across the table. “I do think it’s a good idea, in theory. But as of right now, there are more pressing matters we need to concern ourselves with. I want to inv—“ 

As if they had been waiting for the conversation to finally take a turn for the serious _just_ so that they could interrupt, the Monokubs appeared with their usual jingle as they did so. 

“Ugh, you bears!” Kaede shouted, half standing up when they arrived. 

“Well, gee, good-morning to you, too!” Monosuke spat, and his sarcastic, annoyed tone made the green one, Monodam, perk up. 

“WE-MUST-GET-ALONG. ARE-YOU-GETTING-ALONG-WITH-EVERY-ONE?” 

“ _H-Heeeee!_ Y-you are, right, Monosuke?” Monophanie squealed, coming to the yellow ones aid. 

“Yeah, sure, we’re getting along juuust fine,” Monosuke waved his hand as he declared so, causing Monodam to keep glaring at him. 

“Yeah! If we weren’t getting along, would be have brought this garba—I mean, _presents_ , for all of them?” Monotaro shouted, bouncing forward, and as if on cue, they all held out their hands, revealing the presents—no, garbage, that they had to offer. 

“What we have here is a Dragon Gem, Ocarina, Ancient passport, and a Hexagonal Crank!” Despite it all looking like junk, the cubs all showed off their item with pride. 

“I figured I’d give you ungrateful students a prize for surviving the class trial!” A cheerful voice suddenly intruded from out of nowhere, and out came the black and white bear. 

“You call these prizes? The fuck are we supposed to do with this garbage! It's even less useful than scrap fucking metal!” the blonde inventor exploded. 

“Uh ohh, If the Ultimate Inventor doesn’t even know what they’re for, they must really be garbage, then!” Angie laughed, and only just now did Kaede realize that the Ultimate Artists’ breakfast plate consisted entirely of tropical fruits. 

“I knew it! You ungrateful students! Now I won’t tell you what they’re for, figure it out yourself!” Monokuma snapped, in the voice of a parent who was threatening to turn the car around, and then he was gone. 

Yelling after their father, the rest of the cubs disappeared with a ‘so long, bear well!’ shortly after him. 

With that, the students in the dining hall were left to stare down at the nonsensical objects they had received, and the first one to speak up was Gonta. 

“Um…Gonta no smart, so maybe that why…but what we supposed to do with these?” 

“It’s not really a matter of being smart or not, don’t worry...” Tsumugi reassured the gentle giant, “These objects just look plain useless no matter how you look at them…” 

“Well then, we’ll leave it to Saihara to figure out their uses!” Kaito volunteered on behalf of the detective, earning a sputtering sound of confusion from said detective, who was in the middle of a sip of juice. 

“ _Nishishi_ , why’re you so surprised, Saihara-chan? You’re talent is only useful for when stuff like this happens, right? So be happy!” Kokichi lectured, wagging his fork as he spoke. 

“Then when is _your_ talent useful? Detective work is one thing, but I do not believe you have the right to speak…When will we ever need the use of an Ultimate Supreme leader?” Keebo questioned, and Kaede couldn’t tell if he was seriously asking when, or if he was finally learning to talk back a little bit to Kokichi. 

“ _Ahh!_ The robot is sassing me! This is why people are scared of robots, Keeboy! First you learn to sass me, then you learn to _kill_ …” Kokichi muttered ominously. 

He quickly perked up again though, apparently not being able to pass up an opportunity to dig into Keebo’s inferiority complex. “Not to mention, at least I _have_ a talent, and it’s not something lame like simply existing, like the Ultimate Human or something equally as lame!” 

Keebo went rigid, face frozen in a look of pure shock, though everyone decided to stop listening to Kokichi and Keebo’s back and forth a while ago, as they figured out what to do with the mysterious items and the plan for the day. 

“So Saihara, you’re the Ultimate Detective, so it only makes sense you’ll be the one to take these around and find what they’re for!” Kaito continued nonchalantly, not commenting on what else was going on. 

“If everyone’s fine with me taking them, then sure…” Shuichi agreed, “Though I had been planning on investigating the library for the monopad today.” 

“That’s fine, anyone can do that,” Kaito waved it off like it was nothing, and Shuichi couldn’t help but feel like he didn’t quite grasp the gravity of what it would mean if it _wasn’t_ there… 

“Hmm, I guess I can go look?” Tsumugi offered, looking up with a vacant expression as she thought, like she usually did. 

“That’d be great, but I was actually hoping two people could go…” the detective said uncertainly, not wanting to make it sound like he didn’t trust her, but… 

“Oh, right!” Tsumugi clued in, though didn’t seem to take any offense. “Then…how about you, Gonta-kun? Do you want to come with me? I’m sure it’ll be just plain boring, but…I’d feel safest if it was Gonta-kun.” 

“Of course! Gonta will escort Shirogane-san like true gentleman!” the Entomologist agreed enthusiastically, happy to be of help as he finished off the rest of the food on his plate, which was fish, more fish, and a dozen sausages. “Oh! But investigating the library remind Gonta of something he found.” 

Shuichi, true to his title, suddenly perked up, his full attention on the long haired teenager. “Something you found?” 

“Yes…When Gonta outside earlier looking for tiny bug, Gonta see graffiti on ground, it said “a horse”… Gonta remember, because Gonta think it strange…” 

“Well, just consider that some more brain teasers for our Ultimate Detective to take care of!” Kaito said as he grinned a full toothed smile. 

“I’m starting to feel less like you’re praising his talent, and more like you’re just pushing everything onto him…” Kaede pouted, not wanting everyone to put too much pressure on the sole detective. He could only do so much. 

“It’s alright, Akamatsu-san.” Shuichi reassured with a refreshing smile, as he stood up from the table. “I’m glad to be of help.” 

The pout didn’t leave Kaede’s face. “I guess, but even so…” 

“Alright, so shall we get going, Gonta-kun? Saihara-kun is relying on us for that information,” Tsumugi called out, and immediately Gonta was at her side. 

As the two were getting ready to leave and were almost out the dining hall door, Tsumugi groaned. “I just have to go to the bathroom really quickly before we go, Gonta-kun. Just wait outside for me, okay? I think I ate too many of those greasy sausages, it’s just plain impossible for my stomach to handle…” 

“We should get going too,” Shuichi murmured, turning to Kaede as he looked down at the strange objects he had been entrusted with. 

“Huh…?” Kaede’s eyes widened, and she looked up at him, confused. “We?” 

“Ah! Sorry…” The detective scratched at his head meekly as he shifted his weight awkwardly. “I guess I never formally asked if you wanted to come, I…just kind of figured…But you don’t have to.” 

“You…still _want_ to investigate with me?” The pianist asked slowly, pointing a finger at herself, as if he could have possibly mixed her up with someone else. 

The way she said that made Shuichi finally catch onto her meaning, and why she was so unsure of herself. “Of course. I asked you before when we were investigating in the library if you would allow me to help investigate with you. That…that hasn’t changed, I still want to help you. T-that will never ch—“ 

Kaede suddenly slapped her cheeks, hard, and it startled Shuichi enough to stop him mid sentence and make a strangled noise of surprise. “A-Akamatsu-san?!” 

Now she really felt stupid. Both with the other students and Shuichi, she had just been too caught up in her own head about everything. 

“Alright! Let’s investigate together like we did before!” Kaede shot up with freshly red cheeks, her hands on her backpack straps like she was reading to trudge through a jungle. It seemed her wish to be able to whole-heartedly investigate and help Shuichi, without secretly hiding anything, was about to be fulfilled. “I don’t know if I’ll be much help, but I’ll do my best!” 

The look of shock on the detectives face gradually faded into a gentle smile, and he nodded once, sharply. “Right. Let’s go.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand it's even longer than the first chapter. The scenes I wanted to write ended up taking a lot more time than I thought. To put it into perspective: I wrote notes that filled up the entire page, on 3 pieces of paper, of everything I wanted to happen in chapter 2, and this chapter didn't even get to the end of my first page of outline notes. I seriously underestimate how long things take. Oh, Kaede's apology and all that junk? Meh, two pages. BUT NOPE! Oh well, it's out of the way now, and it had to happen, so that everything could go back to how it was + her dynamic with Shuichi could go back to normal. ALso I just wanna say thanks for the comments I've been getting! I haven't written fanfiction in yeeeaars (I was like 15 and it was sasusaku...lmao) So I wasn't sure if people still commented like they used to, but its really encouraging. ANWYAY next chapter, investigation time and LooOOoOooOove hooOOTttEEeelllll


	3. Chapter 3

Shuichi and Kaede decided to start the search outside first.

Officially, they figured the best course of action was getting the biggest area—the outside—out of the way first, but really, the fresh air and walking around outside after breakfast was a nice added perk.

Despite their presumption that it would be hard to find the uses for the objects outside due to the large area they had to cover, it didn’t take long for them to come across the use of the ocarina.

Keebo and Tenko were standing in front of a thicket of vines, both examining a strange stone monument. As soon as the robot caught sight of the pianist and the detective, he quickly called out to them.

“Perfect timing! You two, please come over here!”

As they approached, Keebo gestured to the object of interest, beckoning the two of them to have a look.

“This stone monument is definitely suspicious! It also has music notes on it…The Ultimate Detective and the Ultimate Pianist are surely the best people to have a look,” Keebo surmised, nodding in agreement with himself as he stepped back to let them investigate.

“It’s true, there’s sheet music here…” Kaede noted, bending down and resting her hands on her knees as she read it.

“Hm, then it’d have to be the ocarina, right?” Shuichi asked as he fished it out of his pocket. He had been holding onto the ocarina and the ancient passport, whereas Kaede had put the crank and strange gem into her backpack. “Akamatsu-san, none of us can read sheet music, so…It’s up to you.”

After saying that, he handed her the instrument, and the blonde took it with gusto.

“Leave it to me,” she said, puffing out her chest as she brought it to her lips. She first had to figure out how to make each note on the unfamiliar instrument, but as expected of the Ultimate Pianist, she had it figured out in no time at all. With her eyes locked onto the monument, she began playing the melody as instructed.

The detective had been expecting a nice melody, for whatever reason, but considering this was something _Monokuma_ had set up, what the Ultimate Pianist ended up playing was just an arrhythmic, garble of noises.

After she had finished, she hastily looked to the three of them, clutching the ocarina defensively. “That wasn’t me, by the way!” she clarified, looking between them. “That’s really what was written there.”

Just as Shuichi was wondering if it had really worked, or if perhaps Kaede hadn’t played it correctly despite her assurance, the vines suddenly withered away, the same way a dry leaf crumbles in your hand.

The four teenagers exchanged looks of wonderment and caution, before heading inside. And what they found was not what they were expecting, at all.

“A…A pool?” Kaede was the first to speak, looking all around.

“Whoooaa! Tenko has always dreamed of swimming in a pool like some big-shot celebrity!” Tenko shouted with enthusiasm Shuichi wasn’t expecting. He didn’t think Tenko was the type to care about mimicking celebrities or things like that.

“Swimming with everyone does sound fun…” Keebo agreed, though despite saying that, he looked strangely downcast.

“Yeah, then let’s do it!” Kaede decided, looking between the two of them happily, definitely surprised they wanted to swim, but also glad. “Not right now of course, but we could come back with everyone. It would help strengthen our bonds, not to mention it’d be fun.”

“Ah…Tenko _wants_ to swim with Akamatsu-san and the others, but she doesn’t know _how_ to swim…” The Ultimate Aikido Master admitted sheepishly. 

“And unfortunately for me, if I tried to swim, I would just sink.” The Ultimate Robot added. Would sink, but not get electrocuted? Shuichi supposed it was obvious that the Ultimate Robot would be waterproof.

Kaede, however, was still determined to make this work. “It’s fine! Chabashira-san, even if you don’t swim, you can still stay by the pool. Not to mention, I’m sure there are lots of us that would be willing to teach you, myself included.

—and Keebo,” now Kaede’s eyes were on the Robot, burning holes into him with her determination. “I’m sure there are pool floaties somewhere, and if not, maybe Gonta could hold you afloat!”

Keebo still seemed a little unconvinced, but at Kaede’s encouragement, Tenko’s eyes were practically sparkling, as if a whole new world of possibilities opened up. “Y-you’re right, Akamatsu-san! I would be honored to have you teach me! I wonder if Yumeno-san knows how to swim, perhaps she’d be willing, too…” the Aikido fighter trailed off, a pink blush creeping to her cheeks as she fidgeted at the thought.

Shuichi felt it best to withhold the fact that he hadn’t been planning on swimming, so that he didn’t interrupt the good mood…though he was sure the blonde pianist would be able to convince him with ease, if she wanted. He had to admit, it might be a little fun.

But now wasn’t the time for that, they really should start investigating the area. It wasn’t too big, so it would probably be pretty quick.

“If there’s a pool, there should be swimsuits somewhere! Right? Otherwise what would be the point of having a pool?” Tenko insisted, causing Kaede to put her fingers on her chin as she nodded.

“Probably in the warehouse?” she mused, and Tenko immediately went rigid.

“The _warehouse?_ Where degenerate males have such easy access to them?! Who knows what perverted things the boys would do…” Tenko chewed on her nails feverishly as she imagined who knows what, and Kaede simply laughed nervously, trying to calm her down.

“Well, we all need swimsuits, right? Did you think I was saying it was going to be a girls-only pool party?”

Apparently this was news to Tenko. Her eyes bugged out of her head, and she grabbed Kaede by the shoulders as if she were crazy. “You— _what?!_ Don’t you understand, Akamatsu-san? You’re probably too pure and naïve to get this, but I heard degenerate males get more turned on by girls in swimsuits than by girls who are naked!”

Kaede thought calmly about what Tenko was saying even as the girl shook her by the shoulders. “You know, I can understand that,” the blonde agreed, suddenly serious. “It’s like, leave a little to the imagination right? Kind of like how even though a swimsuit and panties are the same, it’s more special to see panties, because they’re normally hidden.”

Tenko stopped shaking Kaede, and simply stared at her, frozen. To hear such a thing come out of a girl’s mouth, there was no other explanation for it—she quickly spun to look at Shuichi, who had only been half paying attention to the conversation as he surveyed the room.

“ _Y-You!_ ” she bellowed, pointing an accusatory finger at the unaware boy. “You’ve corrupted Akamatsu-san! I knew it couldn’t be a good thing for you two to be together so much, and look at what you’ve done, **men** ace! You’re probably _so_ happy that the pool party will be co-ed, too!”

Having not been fully invested in the conversation to now suddenly being accused left and right of being some sort of lecherous creep, Shuichi was completely thrown off balance, and he held up his hands defensively as he looked to Tenko.

“Wh-what?! The pool party wasn’t even my idea!” He protested, still confused as to what was going on and where this came from, and quickly looked to Kaede for help. 

She did just that, sweeping in to take the heat off of the detective as she calmed the fighter down. Now that the attention was off of him, he relaxed from his rigid pose, letting out a nervous breath of relief.

He had corrupted Akamatsu-san? The detective wasn’t sure if he had the heart to let Tenko know that Kaede had been saying things a dirty old man would say since he first met her.

But, again, that was a thought for another time—they really should start investigating. It seemed Keebo had already started looking around, and Shuichi saw him emerge from the storage room.

“Anything interesting in there?” Shuichi asked with a smile, knowing full well the answer was probably going to be a boring one.

As expected, the robot just shook his head. “Just what you’d expect to be in a pool storage room. Pool toys, life jackets, and other such equipment.”

Shuichi nodded, and thanked Keebo for his information. Saved him from having to look inside, at least.

Apparently having sated Tenko’s rage, Kaede returned to the detective’s side. From there, the two began their thorough investigation of the pool area. The Monokubs even showed up at one point to let them know of a rule—no swimming at night time. Though Shuichi couldn’t see that being a problem, he didn’t even want to swim, let alone when it was dark.

From what they learned, it seemed to be a surprisingly normal pool area—the window up high was connected to the gym, though there was another window to the right of when you enter. The pool itself is 82 feet long, 39 feet wide, and apparently not as shallow as it would seem.

Once they were seemingly done, Shuichi turned to the blonde, who was being overly-thorough and looking over every unnecessary tiny nook and cranny to make sure she didn’t let down the Ultimate Detective. He watched her for a moment, finding her enthusiasm endearing, though he quickly shook those thoughts from his head.

“I…think we got everything.” He called out to the pianist, and with one last look, she made her way over to him. “Ready to go?”

* * *

“Yo! Saihara, Akamatsu!”

The two turned at the familiar voice, and ran over to meet up with Kaito, who was standing In front of a rather conspicuous door. He gestured to it with his thumb as he spoke.

“Think you guys can do anything with this? I think one of the junk pieces you got would work with this.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Kaede exclaimed as her eyes lit up, and she quickly removed her backpack as she rummaged through it.

After a few moments, she held it up triumphantly, and gingerly placed it into the opening. Like two pieces of a puzzle connecting, it fit perfectly, and despite it being a crank, no actual cranking was required. The three of them took a big step back just to be safe as the giant door began to unlock.

“Look at that! I knew my hunch was right!” Kaito proclaimed happily, practically patting himself on the back as he ran forward.

“Ah, Momota-kun, wait!” Shuichi tried to stop him, but he was already sprinting through the doors. Sharing a quick worried glance, Kaede and Shuichi followed after him.

As they stepped through the doors, Kaito’s purple figure could be seen disappearing through a pair of doors in the distance, and Shuichi groaned as soon as he saw what it was.

“Whoa, a casino!” Kaede gaped, clearly awestruck. “It really gives off that Hollywood, American vibe doesn’t it, Saihara-kun? Let’s go!” And the pianist was off, too.

It was true, due to gambling being illegal in Japan, there were, in turn, no casinos, so it was definitely a rare sight for them. Shuichi also couldn’t help but be a little bit swept away from the glamorous vibe it gave off, and he followed closely behind.

As soon as they stepped inside, they were met with loud music, and even louder Monokubs, appearing out of nowhere as usual. Though they disappeared just as quickly after giving the two an explanation of the casino, and how you can earn coins and exchange them for prizes.

Kaito was nowhere to be seen—not on the upper level, at least. The two looked at each other, suddenly getting a bad feeling, and quickly made their way downstairs.

They expected to find Kaito, yes, but not the black-and-white bear that was currently looming over him and laughing.

Upon noticing them enter, the astronaut went directly to them, a desperate look in his eyes. “You guys…! You have to lend me money; even just one coin is enough! You can spare that much, right? I won so much with just one coin, but lost it all. Just give me one little coin, I’ll prove I can get it all back, I promise!”

“Uhh, Momota-kun, I think you should leave this place.” Kaede said bluntly, and Shuichi nodded.

“Agreed…first it’s just one coin, but it won’t actually stop at that, right? How you are now is proof of that…”

Kaito clearly wasn’t listening; he may as well have had his fingers stuck in his ears and singing at the top of his lungs for how much he cared about what they had to say.

“It was my hunch that got us in here, right? So trust it!” He pleaded.

“Upupupu! Yeah, give him more! Watching this idiot lose everything has been the highlight of my day!” Monokuma egged on.

In response to Kaito’s desperate, frantic eyes that were currently locked onto Shuichi, the detective simply held out his hand, giving one, simple pat to the gamblers shoulder, along with a shake of his head.

At this, Kaito backed away, defeated, though just as quickly turned and slammed his hand on the slot machine. “Damn it!”

“W-well I guess we can sum up this place as nothing but trouble…Really, we’re all students, so why a casino?” The pianist asked in disbelief as she continued to look around.

Before Shuichi could answer or give his opinion on that matter, Monokuma suddenly appeared in between them, causing them both to let out a cry of surprise.

“What _better_ place to put a casino, you dolts?! A place swarming with teenagers, who are still being controlled by their out-of-control hormones and desires…I’m gonna be rich!” the bear shouted excitedly, and Shuichi just sighed. He should have known there was no deeper meaning.

“But if your panties are in such a bunch over the casino,” the Monochrome bear murmured, his paws covering his mouth as he giggled excitedly. “Just wait ‘till you see what’s next door!”

And with that, he was gone again.

“Next door…” Shuichi repeated, getting a distinctly bad feeling about it, considering the ominous way in which the bear had presented it. 

“Could it be related to a new motive…?” Kaede wondered aloud, worrying her lip as she turned to him. That’s what Shuichi was concerned about, too. Why else would Monokuma have been so coy about it?

“Well there’s not much to see here, so I guess the only way to find out is to go look.”

The blonde pianist nodded firmly at his suggestion, and with a newfound determination the two both exited the casino, leaving a distraught astronaut to wallow in self-pity.

* * *

The two had been so focused on following Kaito into the casino, they hadn’t even noticed _‘that place’_ Monokuma was referring to when they first entered this new area.

The two were still quite far away from the building, but Shuichi froze in his tracks the moment he read the neon sign.

He recognized the English word hotel, of course, which wasn’t worrying in itself. But combined with the hearts he was only just now noticing, the pink lights, and…

Kumasutra.

_Hotel_ …Kumasutra.

It…was a love hotel.

There was no way around it. This was definitely a love hotel.

The detective quickly risked a glance at the girl beside him, who still didn’t seem to notice anything wrong as she continued to make her way towards it.

He was about to investigate a love hotel…with a girl. _With Akamatsu-san._

He probably couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to—he was frozen in place, too mortified to take another step, and the girl ahead of him eventually noticed, and turned back to look at him, confused. “Saihara-kun?”

She must have not known what Kama Sutra was, let alone the horrible pun version of it. Meeting her curious gaze just embarrassed him even further, and he quickly looked down, fretting over what to do.

Should he let her know that it was a love hotel before they went in? He knew, so he figured he should let her make an informed decision. But, as expected, it was impossible. He didn’t know how to say it, and with her looking at him like that, it was impossible to just blurt out, _‘Oh, by the way, this is a love hotel.’_

But if he didn’t say anything and pretended to be as blissfully ignorant as her, she would eventually find out as they walked in. Would he act as if he was figuring it out for the first time, too? 

His imagination and anxiety running wild, the detective, to his horror, suddenly conjured up a hypothetical run-down of the situation in his mind, where Kaede realizes he secretly knew all along, and accuses him of luring her in there while knowing full well what it was.

“Saihara-kun, seriously, what’s the matter?” Kaede asked in a more assertive tone this time, and he was surprised he didn’t just straight up yell when he realized she was suddenly in front of him, looking at him with concern.

There was no way he could do this. If she knew, she wouldn’t want to go in either…right? It’s not like they _had_ to investigate the place together, he could come back later on his own.

“U-uh, Akamatsu-san…” he began in a hoarse voice, clearing his throat as he tried not to look at her in the eyes and wishing that he still had his hat. “Do…you know what that building is?” He lost his nerve to tell her up front what it was, so instead he beat around the bush by asking her instead.

The girl simply grimaced in annoyance, maybe thinking he was making fun of her. “Well, I know it says hotel,” she clarified, “but that other word…kuma…sutra? The kuma sounds Japanese, but…well, do _you_ know?”

And here it was. The moment of truth; there was no way he could feign ignorance to her now that she asked him directly, unless he was planning to just lie to her face.

Which he wasn’t.

“Kumasutra. It’s a pun off of Kama Sutra. Have you ever heard of that?” Her face said that no, she hadn’t, so he simply sighed. _Just rip off the band-aid._

“The Kama Sutra is a famous book about, ah…inter…course. So hotel Kumasutra, in other words…It’s a love hotel.”

He wasn’t sure how Kaede would react—she was hard to predict. On one hand she didn’t care about him seeing her, er, delicates…and she also sometimes spoke like a dirty old man...But on the other hand, she also occasionally got flustered at little things, even at things that he himself had said in the past, though he wasn’t sure why.

So he was left to wonder: would she be completely fine with it, and tell him he was just thinking too much, or would she be just as embarrassed as him? Desperately, the detective hoped for the first. Perhaps her can-do, unrelenting attitude would rub off on him, and they could get it over and done with.

Shuichi’s hopes were dashed, however, as her face slowly began to almost quite literally glow red, and seeing that just made him more embarrassed in turn.

However, she wasn’t _all_ flustered; she seemed to have a mixed reaction—almost like a combination of the two reactions he had expected from her.

“I-I see!” She yelled in a voice that was way too loud as she gripped onto her backpack tightly.

“We can turn back, you know…” he offered, hoping she would take him up on that “We don’t have to investigate right now, we can swing by later by ourselves, or with different people…”

“No way,” the pianist shot down sternly, and suddenly turned away from him as she marched towards the hotel. Shuichi was taken aback for a moment, but quickly ran to catch up. “We’ve already come this far, and we said we would investigate together. You never know what’s in there…As the Ultimate Detective, you have to face it head on, and I’m helping you!”

Kaede was walking with her fists in the air as she shouted this motivational speech that was intended for both Shuichi and herself…though it would have been a lot _more_ motivational if her face wasn’t bright red and her eyes didn’t have nervous swirls that he swore he could actually see.

As if trying to prove she wasn’t nervous, Kaede violently slammed open the doors to the hotel as the detective meekly followed suit. 

Upon entering, it looked like a normal enough lobby. There was an elevator, a counter at the front—a reception desk of some sort most likely, considering it had an old-fashioned phone sitting on top—and a few single person couches and small tables to accompany them.

It was pretty small as far as lobbies went…not to mention the décor. As expected of a love hotel, he supposed, but it was so tacky and bright it hurt his eyes, with pink and red everywhere.

Kaede looked all around, also seemingly thrown off by the interior design. “Geez, who designed this place? I guess this sort of tacky, over the top design _is_ what you imagine when you hear ‘love hotel’ though…”

Shuichi walked over to the counter and picked up the phone, looking up as he listened. “It has a dial tone,” he turned his head to inform Kaede as he put it back down.

“I guess to call the rooms? For room service or something.”

“Probably,” he agreed, and continued investigating the counter, walking around the back to see what was behind it. There were no papers or anything important looking that you’d normally expect to be at a desk. Instead…

“Oh, no…” the detective groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes landed on a certain something.

“Wh-what is it?” Kaede asked nervously, quickly following him behind the counter, and Shuichi could tell by her expression the exact moment her eyes had landed on the item of interest.

“Oh, _grea_ —“ 

“ **RISE AND SHINE, URSINE—!** ”

As the cubs popped up one by one, Shuichi only looked on with exasperation. The honey behind the receptionists’ desk had been a clear indicator that the cubs—or maybe Monokuma—had been here, perhaps even ‘work’ here.

Though for once, he wasn’t sure if he was happy for their sudden appearance, or annoyed. Of course, they were always annoying, but having company—even if it was _them_ —would at least make exploring the hotel with Kaede less…uncomfortable.

“Hey, hey, _hey!_ You brats! Get out from behind the counter, employees only!” Monosuke scolded, and the two stepped out as requested, their spots being quickly taken by the yellow and red bear.

“Ah! So that’s where I left the rest of my honey!” Monosuke exclaimed, as he happily ducked down to retrieve the golden nectar, before giving it a good whiff. 

“What is this? Do you all run this place?” Kaede asked incredulously as she watched the bear lick his paw.

“Yes! We come whenever there are customers! If you’d like a room, please just tell us!” Monophanie swayed happily, a pink blush coming to her cheeks as she giggled into her hand.

“YES. ARE-YOU-TWO-HERE-TO-GET-ALONG?” Monodam inquired in his robotic voice, and the two humans in the room immediately stiffened.

He took it back. Shuichi was definitely more annoyed than happy that they had showed up.

“We’re here to investigate!” Kaede quickly yelled back, pointing at him in an accusatory manner. “Don’t go thinking anything weird!”

“Hey, we ain’t thinking _aaanything_ weird. As long as you got the cash, we got the rooms, no questions asked!” Monosuke cackled, waving a wad of money in front of him like a fan.

“Aaagh! Geez, just stop!” Kaede half shouted, half pleaded. 

“Hey, the boy’s being awfully quiet!” the red bear suddenly perked up, and Shuichi wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. “It’s only been the chick denying everything…don’t tell me _you_ were actually hoping to get some?”

The bears all laughed, and Shuichi immediately reached up for his hat, wanting desperately to pull it over his face and suffocate himself with it. Realizing to his profound regret once more that it was in fact not there anymore, he settled with looking straight at the ground.

“H-hey! You perverted bears in heat! Leave him alone, Saihara-kun was the one that wanted to turn back!” Kaede was getting caught up in their song and dance; they’d never be able to move on at this point.

He had reached for his hat, but the detective had to remember why he had taken it off in the first place. Finally gathering himself, Shuichi balled his hands into fists as he looked up. 

“We don’t need to pay just to investigate this place, right?” he asked for clarification. He could probably afford it with the coins Monokuma had awarded him after Rantaro’s trial, but the principal of spending money in a place like this, no matter the reason…didn’t sit well with him.

Monosuke seemed like he was about to say yes, but Monophanie cut in before the money-hungry bear could say anything.

“No money is needed to just look around, as long as you’re not staying!” Monophanie informed happily, though she trailed off, and tilted her head sadly at Shuichi. “But are you sure you don’t want to stay? I can vouch for the amazing time you’ll have here…Monotaro and myself come here all the time!”

Shuichi closed his eyes at her words and frowned. _Too much information._

“Eh-ehh?! We’ve…we’ve done…you know… _this_ and _that_?!” Monotaro choked out, apparently as surprised at this revelation as Kaede and Shuichi were.

“Geez, you!” Monophanie stomped her foot angrily. “You don’t remember because you’ve been drinking all that honey…! How cruel…to not remember, even though it was my first time…even though you did…all those things to my body…”

“Seriously, enough, we don’t need to hear it! And aren’t you supposed to be brother and sister?” At this point, Kaede had her hands over her ears as she shouted at them.

Monophanie and Monotaro seemed to ignore that very important detail, not even bothering to grace it with a response. Then again, Monotaro was too busy frantically asking Monophanie a series of questions, still in disbelief that he had done what she claimed.

“Anyway, I guess we’ll get out of your hair, since we’re not gonna make any money from you brats anyway,” Monosuke said regretfully, and he disappeared, the first to go.

Seeing him leave, Monodam left right after him. The only two left were Monophanie and Monotaro.

“I guess I’ll go too! Bye, have fun!” Monophanie said happily as she, too, took her leave and left a confused Monotaro by himself.

“M-me too…” Monotaro said, still in shock. Before leaving, he glanced at Shuichi with a serious look in his eyes. “Kid, let me tell you, man-to-man…Don’t be like…like _me_. Cherish her. It’s her first time, so don’t be garbage like me, and at least…be sure to remember it…Her curves, her softness, her warmth, her moaning your na—”

“ _Alright!_ I get it already, s-so just go!” Shuichi pleaded, raising his hoarse voice as loud as it could go, cursing the bear both for making it awkward again with his parting words as he disappeared, and for giving the detective a certain mental image.

The two were left alone in the silence of the lobby, the only sounds the two of them could hear were the rapid beating of their own hearts. Despite not having investigated an inch of the place, Shuichi already felt spent and wanted to just go back to his room and not talk to anyone for the rest of the day.

Even if they investigated, he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up forgetting everything to do with this place, just as a coping method.

“Alright! Investigation: start!” Kaede announced suddenly and loudly in English, clearly in her best American accent. She gave herself two quick claps on her cheeks, and turned to Shuichi, winding back her arm and giving him a hard slap on his back.

The force of the hit moved him forward a little bit, and considering Kaito had slapped him in that same spot earlier in the morning, the detective let out a louder sound than usual.

“R-right…” Shuichi mumbled, rubbing his poor abused back as best as he could reach. “We’ve already got this lobby down, and it looks like there are 3 hallways connected that lead to rooms. They’re probably all the same, though.”

“You’re right…but we should still look in all of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Monokuma made all the rooms the same to make us stop checking, but secretly hid something in one of the rooms.” Kaede said with her index finger raised.

Shuichi nodded in agreement, and looked to the three hallways. There were 10 doors in each hallway, 5 on one wall and 5 on the other, and by the looks of it, all hallways were identical so far. 

“Any preference for which one we look at first?” the detective asked.

“No, we’re gonna look at them all anyway, so let’s just go with this one I guess,” and upon saying so, Kaede chose the hallway in the middle, which was a bit behind the counter in the lobby.

The pianist slowly opened the door to the first room, and the two peeked inside before stepping in completely. 

Shuichi thought the lobby was bad, but the actual rooms were an entirely new monster. Not only was there still pink and red everywhere, there was also, for some reason, a horse you would find on a merry-go-round, except it was spinning around the sole bed in the room. Not to mention the fact that it had Monokuma’s eye and his smile. 

He and Kaede exchanged a curious glance at that, but quickly continued looking around the room.

At least the bed was just what you’d expect. It was pretty big, with a giant, obnoxious heart-shaped headboard decorated with lights. 

Shuichi still hadn’t fully entered the room yet, and he closed the door behind him, kneeling down in front of it as he locked it. Hearing the noise, Kaede’s head whipped to look in his direction, and despite her best efforts to not think about where they _were_ , her cheeks flamed.

“What…are you doing, Saihara-kun?” She asked innocently enough—a little too innocently, trying desperately to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice. But seeing him lock the door behind them as soon as they entered obviously got her attention and her guard up.

It took a second to register why she had reacted to him just locking the door, but when it _did_ , Shuichi immediately bolted up, tumbling over his words in his haste to explain. “I-I just wanted to check if these rooms lock; we have to be thorough,” he explained, all the while fumbling with the lock once more in his hurry to undo it. 

“Oh, right, good idea,” Kaede nodded seriously, a little bit of relief clear on her face. “It’s good to check just in case, but it’s sort of obvious these rooms would have locks. Considering, you know…what…they’re for…” the pianist clearly wished she had never started that line of thought, but once she had it was already too late to stop, and so she meekly trailed off.

“Right…” Shuichi cleared his throat, and looked back at the lock. “I still think it’s a good idea to check every room, though. Knowing if there are any broken or faulty locks would be valuable information.”

With that, the two continued to look around, and of course, the bed was a pretty big eyesore—er, _focal point_ —so it had to be done. Shuichi bent down, reaching his hand under the mattress and pillows, with no results.

“Wow, though. It really is big…We could even sleep here if we wanted.” Kaede mused as she watched Shuichi walk all around the bed.

At her words, though, Shuichi choked on his spit and coughed a bit.

Just like with Shuichi, it had taken Kaede a few moments to realize what she had said, and she quickly held out her hands in front of her as she shouted at him.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that, by the way…! I mean _literally_ sleep…If these rooms have locks and such huge beds, any student could just come here to sleep if they wanted!”

The detective nodded, calming himself down as he thought about what she said.

“True, but the locks here don’t seem as reinforced, not to mention you have to pay, so it might not be worth it in the end for a bigger bed…” And hopefully if these beds ever had been used, they were at least adequately washed. Shuichi wasn’t sure how much he trusted the Monokubs or Monokuma in regards to cleanliness.

He was taken out of his thoughts about that, however, when Kaede suddenly let out a surprised noise, and Shuichi quickly looked over to her direction to see what she was looking at.

In the corner of the room, next to a garishly bright red couch, there was, uh…intimate love objects.

BDSM tools, to be more direct.

“W-wow. This is pretty kinky stuff,” Kaede said honestly, apparently in too much awe to even feel embarrassed anymore. That, however, was not the case for Shuichi, and his face was as bright as the couch.

“I-I don’t think we need to actually investigate that stuff…As long as we take note of what’s there and if it’s the same items in every room,” He said, trying to play it cool and not wanting to look at that stuff with Kaede for longer than necessary.

“I guess you’re right…but wow. Handcuffs, a whip, a chain and even a helmet? I guess some people are into this stuff…” Kaede said in disbelief as she inspected them curiously. “I wonder which of our classmates would be most inclined to use this stuff.”

Shuichi didn’t think he’d ever be discussing kinks or BDSM with Kaede, but here he was. “I-I can’t really say…” he mumbled, wanting to move the conversation onto something else, and hoping that she wasn’t about to ask him to use his skills as the Ultimate Detective to figure out who among them was the most into BDSM.

Noticing how uncomfortable he was, Kaede shot up, and put her arms straight at her side. “Ah, sorry! I’ve just never seen that kind of stuff before, so I got a little carried away…”

Shuichi shook his head and reassured her it was fine, but then the two were left standing in silence as they stood in the gaudy room of the love hotel.

As a few moments of awkward silence passed, the Ultimate Pianist had clearly had enough.

“This is embarrassing! It is, right?!” Kaede yelled, and looked at Shuichi, gazing at him heatedly until he nodded at her. “Right?! There’s no shame in the fact that it’s embarrassing, we’re two teenagers in a love hotel for crying out loud!”

Suddenly, Kaede swung open the door to the room they were in and stepped into the hallway, grabbing Shuichi’s arm as soon as he stepped out with her.

“A-Akamatsu-san? What…are you doing?” He asked, looking down at her tight grip on his forearm. With Kaede’s suddenly determined expression, there was no more awkwardness in the air as she declared her plan.

“Let’s run.” She said simply.

“Huh? Run…What do you mean?” He asked, confused.

“It’s just too awkward, right? It makes you feel restless…So let’s run. That way we can finish faster, and if we’re running, we’ll be too tired and busy running through the hotel to have any time to think about how embarrassing it is!”

With her explanation and his arm in her hand, Shuichi couldn’t help but crack a little bit of a smile. It was very much like her to do something like this, and he smiled, making a noise of agreement.

That was enough for Kaede, and with a pull to his arm, the two were off.

* * *

The hotel was four stories high, so although it definitely could have been a lot worse, it still took them a bit of time to navigate, even at running speed. Not to mention, Kaede insisted that waiting in the elevator would make things too awkward again, so she had pulled him up a flight of stairs each time.

After what must have been at least an hour or 2, the detective and pianist were finally done, having run circles through the entire hotel, searching every nook and cranny. Unfortunately their efforts seemed to bare no obvious fruit, because each hotel room was an exact replica of the last, from belongings, to décor.

Neither of them brought that up, though. It was too depressing to think that coming into such a tacky hotel, running around for 2 hours, and being teased by the Monokubs was all for nothing. Instead of being upset over the fact that they found nothing, as the two stood in the fourth and final hallway panting and trying to catch their breaths, Kaede beamed at Shuichi.

“We—made—pretty good—time, huh? Doesn’t—moving your body every—once in a while like this—feel good?” She was clearly trying to look at the best of a bad situation, but there was still some truth in her statement. Being trapped in this killing school game and only having a limited area they could explore, it did feel good to just sprint at full speed. Shuichi couldn’t even remember the last time he had done that, probably not since he was a kid.

“Although I can agree with that…” the detective admitted between rasping breaths, “I think I’m ready to leave now.”

The pianist laughed in response, definitely not arguing that point, and the two headed towards the elevator that would lead them to the main lobby and, finally, outside of this place.

However, the two forgot where they were.

Whenever you got your hopes up in a place like this, they would be dashed in seconds.

At first Shuichi thought he was seeing things, due to how tired and desperate he was to get out of there. There was no way you _wouldn’t_ think you were seeing things, when the hallway in front of you suddenly folded like paper, so that part of the floor was now a wall on each end, boxing them in.

The detective quickly turned to look behind him, and past Kaede’s equally shocked expression, he saw that the other end was also walled up. They could still move around freely in the hallway, but could no longer reach the stairs nor the elevator.

“Wh-what is this?!” Kaede demanded in both shock and annoyance, as if daring anything else to go wrong. “Mono…Monokuma! Or the Monokubs! You’re there, aren’t you?! There’s no way a student could do this! What’s happening, explain yourself!”

At the blonde’s demands, a voice suddenly rang out from an intercom or some sort of sound system that the two weren’t aware of. “Upupupu, oh sorry!” the voice that could only belong to Monokuma rang out unapologetically.

The voices of his cubs could be heard in the distance, though they were promptly drowned out as Monokuma continued talking.

“When my cute little cubs told me that some of my precious students had finally dared to go into Hotel Kumasutra—and _you_ two, no less—Upupupu, I was so excited!”

Shuichi should have known it was just entertainment to the bear, just like this killing game, but he kept his mouth shut, and he heard Kaede beside him grinding her teeth, apparently struggling to do the same.

“Two teenagers—a boy and a girl at _that_ age, exploring a love hotel together…” Although they couldn’t see him, they could practically hear the drool as the bear panted heavily into the mic. “Or at least, that’s how it _should_ have been, you useless brats! This isn’t what me or the audience wanted!”

Audience…? Shuichi frowned, looking up as he listened to Monokuma. He was sure the bear meant himself and the cubs, but was just referring to them as the audience, due to his theatrics. Still, it bothered the detective.

“Nothing happened…Nothing happened in this love hotel that I tried to set up so perfectly for these sorts of situations to blossom! No accidental fall onto the bed, where you accidentally grope the girl, and then you realize you’re on top of her and get into the mood—no girl taking a rest on the bed, and once you get a good look at her on the bed, you just lose control and go at it right then and there! What a disappointment!” The robotic bear yelled at them, lecturing via intercom, though with how much he was raising his voice, the feed screeched and crackled, causing them to wince in annoyance.

“Well, sorry you didn’t get what you wanted,” Shuichi said dryly, clearly not the least bit sorry. “What’s done is done, let us out.”

“Ho… _hohoho_ , if it was going to be that easy, why would I go through the trouble of trapping you guys in this hallway?” the bear asked, back to his playful cheery voice, apparently the fact that he had full control was enough to put him back in a good mood.

“What are you implying?” Kaede asked slowly, though the two of them had an idea of what he was going to say.

“For being such a disappointment to both me _and_ the audience, I’m not letting you leave this place until you do something that’ll _really_ make this old bears heart go doki-doki! I hope you’ve read your fair share of Shoujo manga, because I wanna see some good ‘ole cliché’s! Kiss each other! Hug each other! Carry bridal style! Piggyback! Kabe-don! Strip! Hell, just **** for all I care, you’re in the love hotel, after all! _Upupupu!_ ”

Although they had been expecting it, it still wasn’t nice to have that confirmation, and Shuichi closed his eyes as he grimaced. 

Shuichi was still a teenage boy, and if he was being _completely_ honest with himself, he obviously wouldn’t mind doing those things with Kaede. Not to mention it’d pretty much be impossible to have never at least _thought_ about that kind of stuff…

But still, knowing they were trapped and that they _had_ to put a very bad taste in his mouth, making him very obviously opposed to it. Not to mention, even if some part of _him_ may actually not mind doing something like that, knowing that the girl next to him was forced into it and was doing it to get out of here practically made him feel sick.

“Akamatsu san, I’m…really sorry you had to get dragged into this with me.”

The detective was practically being crushed with guilt. If he hadn’t invited Kaede to investigate, they wouldn’t be in this mess. If he had just made up an excuse and they never came in here to begin with, this wouldn’t be happening.

If she was forced to do something that made her uncomfortable, with _him_ , would she still talk to him the same way? Would she still be his friend?

The detectives head was down as he leapt through a maze of mental gymnastics in his head, and he could feel the sweat beading on his skin. He was abruptly pulled out of his own head, however, when he felt a hand on his back—not a slap this time, but simply resting there.

“If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me.” Kaede smiled gently in response to his frazzled mental state, slowly taking her hand off of him. “I was the one who insisted we still come in here even after learning what this place was.”

Just as Shuichi was about to refute that, Kaede put on a brilliant smile, and even though he saw her lips moving as she said her next words, the boy almost didn’t hear it due to how much of a shock it was.

“—so, let’s do it.”

The dark haired boy thought he would get whiplash due to how quickly he turned to look at her, and he could feel more sweat forming as he attempted to form a coherent sentence. “I— _What?_ Do…what do you mean?”

“Stop getting so embarrassed! It just makes me more embarrassed!” Kaede scolded, and Shuichi pressed his lips into a thin line, as if he could will the fire away from his face. The blonde just looked at him and sighed.

“It’s not like we have to do _it_ —Monokuma just wants to see something to be satisfied, right? Even if we do something like hug, is it so weird for friends to hug? I admit in the place and situation we’re in, it’s a little weird…but I don’t think we should freak out so much.”

“I…Guess?” Shuichi half-heartedly agreed, calming down at her words. Between Monokuma suddenly surveying them, being exhausted, trapped in this hallway, and feeling guilty at the prospect of making the girl before him do something that would make her uncomfortable, it seems he really was blowing things out of proportion.

But he couldn’t help it. He cherished the girl in front of him too much, he realized, and even the slight chance that something like this could make her hate him in the end terrified him.

So to see her relaxed smile and feel her hand on his back as she reassured him did wonders for his composure.

“Monokuma!” Shuichi turned his head up as he addressed the bear, despite not being able to see him even when doing so. “You’d really be satisfied with a kabe-don? Or even a piggy-back ride?” it seemed too good to be true, and of course, the bears next words did indeed confirm that if something _seemed_ too good to be true, it probably _was_.

“Ah, ah, ahhhh, Saihara-kun. I’m disappointed in the Ultimate Detective. I said you could do any of those things, but I didn’t say just doing _one_ of them would be enough. Of course I won’t just be satisfied with one of those lame ones! But if you guys just get down and dirty, I’ll let you out _right_ away, bears honor!”

Completely ignoring that last part, Shuichi and Kaede mulled over what to do together with the new information they were given. 

“Seems like it’s basically a point system, though we don’t know what Monokuma considers the lowest…in that case, it’d be safest to just go with the most normal ones and hopefully he’ll let us go before we have to do anything weird.” Shuichi murmured through his hand as he thought.

“In that case, let’s start with a kabe-don.” Kaede said assertively, out of nowhere, and the detective quickly turned to look at her, and was met with eyes full of anticipation and expectation.

“U-uh, what?” Was all he could say.

“Oh come on!” Kaede sighed as if it should be obvious. “Any girl who’s ever read Shoujo manga has dreamed of being kabe-donned, Saihara-kun. And that’s a fact.”

He wasn’t sure it was, but he still nodded uncertainly anyway, and Kaede stood with her back right against the wall.

The detective kept his distance, though, as his heart hammered away in his chest. The pianist was standing across from him, arms behind her back and a slight blush to her cheeks as she smiled excitedly, and the expectations suddenly made him self-conscious.

“I…Just have to put my hand on the wall next to your head, right?” He asked uncertainly, closing in on her and reaching out his arm as he did so.

“Wait!” she suddenly commanded, and he froze in place, looking down at her for further instruction. “It’s called kabe _don_ for a reason. The _’don!’_ is the sound effect of your hand hitting into the wall. So, like I’ve been saying…” Kaede paused, and looked up at him with a grin. “You’ve got to be assertive, Saihara-kun!”

Approaching her and essentially trapping her by putting his hand up on the wall and leaning in had already taken every ounce of his willpower, and now he had to do it _confidently_?

“Gh…It’s too embarrassing,” he complained, practically whining. But despite saying that, he backed up, and this time as he walked towards her, he let his hand hit the wall by her head with a resounding _thump_.

Shuichi’s lips were pressed into a tight line as he shyly refused to look in even the general _direction_ of her face, but his curiosity got the best of him, and he eventually sneaked a look at her.

He knew that was a bad idea.

Seeing Kaede blush seemed to always set off a chain reaction, and he quickly looked away, though he could feel that the damage was already done. How long was he expected to stay in this pose?

The fact that Monokuma hadn’t spoken up at all—neither to say whether it was good enough, or if they had to do more—was worrying, to say the least. Shuichi remained in his embarrassing stance, looking to the complete left and away from Kaede in his embarrassment, though it didn’t seem like there was much reason to stay like this any longer.

Just as he was about to pull away, he felt a thump on his chest, and suddenly the girl who had been leaning against the wall just moments ago was now nestling into him.

Not only that, but her arms snaked up around him until they had him encircled in a firm hug. Shuichi, for his part, hadn’t moved an inch—he was still frozen in his position of placing his hand against the wall. Hell, he was too shocked to even be embarrassed; his mind was completely blank, the only thought in it at the moment being a profound: _“!?”_

As she hugged him, Kaede fit her chin into the crook of his neck, and the breath from her words raised immediate goose bumps on his clammy skin, which he was worried she would see.

“Is this good, Monokuma?” She called out, still embracing the statue of a boy that used to be Saihara Shuichi.

He could feel shivers on every inch of his body, and it felt as if he had suddenly gained superpowers with how hyper-aware he suddenly was of Kaede. From the vibrations of her voice coursing through his body, to her arms pulling him into her, the smell of her hair, and how she seemed to fit so perfectly against him.

_‘You just wanted to feel her boobs pressed against you, didn’t you?’_

The random voice of a past memory suddenly rang out, nearly causing Shuichi to flinch. At the time, the words weren’t directed to him, but to Kaito. Why did he suddenly think of that now…? He knew why, but the guilt refused to let him dwell on it for too long. 

“ _ **Ki—YAAAAAAAAA~**_ ” A shrill voice suddenly rang out from the sound system—a voice that was almost unrecognizable as it tried to imitate a young girl, though it was still unmistakably Monokuma’s voice. “What pure _love!_ What pure _reactions!_ Really, you kids know how to bring this old man back to his high school days…” Monokuma panted into the sound system, and suddenly being reminded that they were being watched and the reason they were even hugging in the _first_ place was because of him…made Shuichi very uncomfortable.

But despite getting the okay and the hallway returning to normal around them, revealing the holy grail that was the elevator, Kaede didn’t let go.

“Um…?” Was all he said. He was confused as to why she hadn’t let go, though he wasn’t going to be the one to break from the hug first, so he simply continued to stand there, awkwardly rigid, as he was sure she could feel, until she spoke.

“That was pretty cool, by the way. Your kabe-don. I really felt like a heroine in a Shoujo! If you were like that all the time, I bet girls would be all over you left and right.” 

And with that, she disengaged from the hug, and his body suddenly felt way too cold without her warmth.

“Then again, maybe that’s a good thing. I also like that passive side of yours, Saihara-kun.” She smiled at him—the way she smiled at him, with her eyes steady and her eyebrows firm—never failed to encourage him and fill him with confidence.

He didn’t know how to reply to her compliments, though, so he simply followed behind her as she made her way to the elevator—though he nearly crashed into her as she suddenly stopped.

“Let’s run,” 

“H-huh?”

And they were off.

* * *

“Why—did—we—have to—run— _again?_ ” Shuichi asked in between pants, and Kaede made a laugh that _sort_ of sounded like laughing, though she was too out of breath to actually laugh properly.

“It—got awkward again—so it’s only—natural we— we run out, right?” she said.

And he had to admit, her technique from running away from awkward situations was a tried and true technique. Running through the hotel had brought him back to when they were investigating the place in the beginning, and if he tried hard, it was almost like he could make himself forget Monokuma had ever interfered, and it had just been one long continuous run.

That wasn’t completely true, though. The sensation of Kaede’s hug still lingered, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous and fidgety around her. 

“Finally, freedom!” The blonde shouted excitedly, and pushed the doors to the hotel open.

The sun that shone on them immediately rejuvenated Shuichi, and the light wind against his face just made him realize how stuffy and cramped it had been in there. He was almost expecting it to be nighttime when they emerged—it felt like they had been in there for an eternity.

“I’m never going back in there.” he stated firmly, and Kaede laughed—properly, this time—though the much needed laughter was cut short when they realized just _who_ they had run into upon exiting the hotel.

Keebo and Miu looked just as surprised to see them, and Miu’s hand, which had been slightly extended to reach for the doors to the hotel, fell back to her side. 

Kaede’s laughter had died, replaced by a very different and new laughter that exploded into the air after she had gotten a good look at them.

“Red faced, panting, sweating, and coming out of a love hotel…Really, there’s no other explanation, so don’t just tell me I’m being pervy! BWAHAHA!” Miu snorted so violently it was a wonder she didn’t hurt herself as she doubled over in laughter.

Keebo, who seemed to want to give the detective and the pianist the benefit of the doubt, was still looking very doubtful despite that noble intention. “I…I’m sure it’s not what we think, but you two do look…quite suspicious.”

“We were about to go look inside, but looks like you already _went_ inside, eh, Kuzuhara?” Miu barely got that one out before she was once again doubled over in laughter.

When they had first met and investigated together, Shuichi was able to let whatever Miu said roll off of him, but with what they just went through, it felt as if all of his defenses were down. “That’s not it!” He yelled, reaching up once again for his hat, but to no avail, and this time he settled with not-so-subtly just covering his embarrassed face with both of his hands.

To run into Miu of all people after leaving a love hotel…Shuichi would have to apologize to Angie later, because there was no way any God existed.

“It’s alright, Saihara-kun.” Kaede said in a sort of calm, monotone voice that caused the detective to look at her in confusion.

Upon looking her in the eyes though, he understood. The two didn’t even have to say a word before they quickly bolted away, leaving the Ultimate Robot and the Ultimate Inventor still standing in front of the entrance to Hotel Kumasutra. 

They ran at full speed, closing the distance physically, but Miu’s booming laughter still followed closely behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify: I know that Hotel Kumasutra is called something else in the japanese version, but I kept it as is just 'cause. And speaking of kinks, if you couldn't tell just from reading the chapter, Shuichi spilling his spaghetti is one of MY kinks, LOL. This chapter is also pretty long, and I always get paranoid when I see that page count get too big. I'm just curious if people care/did you think this chapter was too long and would prefer more bite-sized chapters, or does it not matter to most people? 
> 
> Also I shamelessly googled 'shoujo cliches' to use in this chapter, but suprisingly, your average shoujo cliche scenarios cant really be applied in this sort of set-up...so I ended up not really using any of the ones that I read (except for the classic k-k-kabe don). The fact that I still went out of my way to google shoujo cliches and FULLY intended to use them, though...I've hit a new low.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Shuichi and Kaede frantically distanced themselves enough from Miu to a point that they'd deemed ‘safe’—which was into the walls of the academy itself—they finally took the time to stop and catch their breath. 

For a moment, the sounds of their rasping breaths were the only thing filling the silence in the entrance hall. Which suited them just fine, really, considering they were too busy refilling their lungs to really speak and fill what would _eventually_ become an awkward silence, anyway. Thankfully, however, it never came to that; before they even had time to compose themselves and think about how horribly awkward the entire situation had been, the voice of the Ultimate Magician called out to them in her signature monotone.

“Finally…there you guys are,” she scolded—or, it _would_ have resembled something akin to that, if she had bothered to put any expression into her voice. “I’ve been trying to find you for a while…My magic is reacting to something.”

Understanding that this was Himiko’s unique way of saying she had found a clue of some sort, Shuichi and Kaede both followed her deeper into the school, and before long they were in front of three tiles on the wall. Two of the tiles had something inserted into them, whereas the middle slot was left empty.

Since it was Himiko, Shuichi originally wasn’t sure what to expect when she told them she found something, but it seemed she really _had_. 

Recognizing the shape, he pulled the matching passport out of his pocket, and placed it in the groove before quickly stepping back.

After seeing the leaves miraculously wither away in front of the pool, the detective had a hunch that perhaps the wall would crumble in a similar fashion—and true enough, a few moments after inserting the ancient passport, the once sturdy wall came crumbling down. 

Instinctively, the dark haired boy put his arm out in front of the two girls as they all turned away from the incoming dust and debris.

“Whoa!” Kaede yelped, clearly not expecting it like the detective had been. He couldn’t quite say he blamed her; crumbling leaves was one thing, but a concrete wall? There was no explosion or anything, it just…fell. How was Monokuma even _managing_ all of this? 

For his own sanity, Shuichi decided it was in his best interest to just leave it for now—a crumbling wall was not exactly the strangest thing they’ve come to witness thus far.

Once they were seemingly no longer in danger of any incoming pieces of the destroyed wall, the navy-haired detective lowered his arm, turning to the two girls with an apologetic half-smile. “Ah, sorry, I…had a feeling that would happen. I should’ve warned you guys.”

“N-nyeh…it’s fine. I saw that coming…Though my clairvoyance magic isn’t my strongest, so I was s-still a little bit surprised…” The self-proclaimed mage mumbled through quivering lips as she avoided eye contact with either of them.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Kaede joined, adding extra reassurance. “Even if anything _did_ happen, you were protecting us!” And with that, the pianist stuck her arm out in a protective manner, imitating him from moments prior. Her version, however, was much more grandiose and macho.

“Stay back, _ladies_ ,” she purred in a low, velvety voice as her one arm remained outstretched dramatically in the air, while the other slowly rose so that her fingers were supporting her chin in a dashing pose. “ _I’ll_ protect you.”

Shuichi immediately felt his face get hot, though whether it was because he was being imitated, because he was so taken aback by Kaede’s sudden sultry voice—or _both_ —…he wasn’t sure.

“W-what was that?” the detective asked with a bewildered chuckle. “If that’s actually how you see me I guess I’d be happy but…I think you were exaggerating a bit much…”

The blonde laughed as well, putting down her arms. “I know, I know. But I did still think it was cool of you to do that, without even thinking.” Her arms were back up; though this time they weren’t mocking him, but instead rose into her signature fists. “I may have exaggerated for a joke, but you know, I really _do_ see you as being that reliable, Saihara-kun.”

Again, his face was hot. How…was she able to say things like that so easily?

“Akamatsu-san, you’re…actually pretty mean.”

Assuming he was still referring to her depiction of him, she simply laughed it off, apologizing half-heartedly as she followed Himiko, who had already left to explore beyond the broken wall.

The magician had wasted no time in disappearing inside the newly-discovered door ahead of them, and with a few more steps forward, it didn’t take Shuichi or Kaede long to see why she had immediately been so drawn to it. 

It was presumably a door to a research lab, and not just any research lab—the door was adorned with transmutation circles, runes, and other…magical looking things. Strawberry excluded. 

“Guess this is Yumeno-sans. Please excuse us,” the detective called out politely as he opened the door. 

Right away, the room was a lot more crammed than the detective had been expecting. As opposed to Kaede’s room which pretty much just had a piano, he supposed it made sense for Himiko’s lab to have so many bizarre things due to her talent. 

Still, he felt like he had just wandered into some sort of Halloween store.

“Wow! This really makes my research lab seem pretty boring, huh?” Kaede acknowledged in awe, walking around the room with the same expression Shuichi imagined a kid would have upon spotting a toy factory in the North Pole.

“Well…of course a mage’s room will be more amazing than a musician’s…” Himiko mumbled, not in a rude way, but simply as if it was common knowledge. Despite having such a nice room, though, she didn’t exactly look happy. Then again, she never looked much of _anything_ , so that wasn’t saying much.

“Oh, wow. A cauldron, too! I’ve never seen one of these in real life, this is so cool…” Kaede continued gushing as she walked around the pot, and you’d think _she_ was the Ultimate Magician, rather than the real deal, who still remained stone-faced as she stood there. “It would be fun to cook a stew or something in here. You’d really feel like a real witch or a chef from medieval times stirring it, and—“

“You can’t,” Himiko cut off the blonde pianist abruptly and unapologetically. “It’s collecting mana…There’s no way you can use a cauldron for something as mundane as cooking…”

“O-oh! Right. Sorry for being so inconsiderate…” Kaede said sheepishly, stepping away from the cauldron and returning to Shuichi’s side. 

While Kaede had been looking around in wonderment and engaging in her back-and-forth with Himiko, the detective had already pretty much finished scoping the lab. Despite all the strange contraptions and devices, it was still a small room, and he turned to the girl next to him. 

“I think I went over everything important in here…are you ready to go explore the rest of the school?” He asked. 

They only had one item left to use, which was the item that was currently tucked away in Kaede’s backpack: the Dragon Gem. Considering the two had already gone over the entirety of the outside campus with a fine-toothed comb, Shuichi was positive they would find its use inside the school itself.

“H-huh? You finished already? Sorry, I didn’t really help at all this time…I got distracted.” Kaede mumbled, scratching at her forehead to half-hide her face in a rare display of meekness.

“Don’t worry; it’s a small lab anyway. In regards to the actual room _itself_ …all the weapons that seem to be involved in these tricks are worrying, but that’s all that seems to be in here: magic tricks and props.”

Kaede nodded seriously at his words, ignoring a voice in the background that lazily protested at them being mere tricks and props. “Yeah, I wish we could just throw out everything dangerous, but that wouldn’t be fair to Yumeno-san…” the pianist said quietly, clearly worried about all the potential murder weapons, though desperately trying to likewise believe in everyone. 

Shuichi decided not to say what he was thinking, which was if one of their classmates wanted to murder, a lack of weapons to choose from wouldn’t stop anybody if they’d already solidified their resolve. Though he knew how much Kaede wanted to believe in their bonds—he did, too—so he buried that thought in the back of his mind.

With a quick goodbye to Himiko who decided to stay behind in her lab, the detective and pianist stepped over the rubble from the freshly collapsed wall and ventured deeper in the school, determined to find the use of the Dragon Gem.

* * *

It didn’t take long.

Near Kaede’s lab was a strange combination of people: Kokichi, Gonta, and Kirumi. The detective had come because he remembered meeting Tsumugi in front of the curious dragon statue, and it was the first place that came to mind when taking a _dragon_ gem into consideration. 

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought so as well.

“Oh, I knew you’d come to check this area. That dragon statue’s preeetty sketchy.” Kokichi said knowingly, looking quite relaxed with his hands behind his head and his signature smile.

“Right…” Was all the eloquence Shuichi bothered to grace the boy with, and then promptly turned to Kaede, who was one step ahead of him and already in the process of removing her backpack to access the gem.

Kaede positioned herself on her knees, rummaging through the backpack as she searched for the gem with touch alone. Shuichi didn’t think she had that much in her backpack, but if she was having such trouble finding it, apparently he was wrong.

“Wow, are you a nasty hoarder or something? How much crap do you have in there?” Kokichi piped up, apparently also noticing the time this was taking her as he sauntered up to look down into her bag.

“Well—I brought—snacks and stuff—in case we got hungry investigating—I also have spare clothes—and stuff…” Kaede muttered in-between bouts of rummaging, and finally she triumphantly lifted her hand out of the white backpack, revealing the red gem in all its glory.

“ _Gyah!_ Don’t hurt me! Pulling a spherical object like that out of your backpack…it’s nostalgic, _isn’t_ it, Akamatsu-chan?” the supreme leader chuckled, his feigned fear quickly shifting into a devilish smirk as he both literally and figuratively looked down at Kaede, who was still on the floor.

Shuichi could tell Kaede was holding herself back, the way her lips were pressed together and her eyebrows crumpled as she looked up at him. She and Kokichi clearly did not get along—mainly due to Kokichi himself—and despite how aggravating Kaede found his jabs at her, she couldn’t exactly deny him his right to act that way, which both saddened and angered the girl. But she knew she couldn’t say anything against him.

So instead she shot up wordlessly, briskly walking ahead of Kokichi and nearly hitting him with her shoulder as she passed him on her way to the statue.

Perhaps as her own little way of payback, once Kaede placed the gem into the statue and stepped back with the others, she didn’t bother to warn Kokichi about the presumable incoming collapse of the wall.

The boy himself didn’t seem to mind, however; in fact, more than anything, he seemed to appreciate the front-row view, and looked on with sparkling eyes as it began to crumble before him.

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” He all but squealed. “We can get past this wall now! Alright, then, chaaaaarge!”

True to his words, Kokichi was gone in a flash, followed by a worried Gonta. After being warned about the stagnant air by Kirumi, the three of them stepped into the new area themselves, instantly spotting a door ahead of them.

The three of them filed in and looked around the room, though unlike Himiko and Kaede’s labs which were both immediately apparent as to who their owners were at a glance, Shuichi couldn’t tell right away who this lab was meant for.

However, the owner herself quickly remedied that as she admired the aesthetics of the room. “These decorations adorned the British Empire at the Peak of Queen Victoria’s reign,” the Ultimate Maid informed the two, an appraising smile on her face as she continued to gaze around the room. “This must be my research lab.”

True, now that she said it, Shuichi couldn’t imagine this mature, Victorian looking lab belonging to anybody else. 

“As expected of Toujou-san’s room,” Kaede nodded seriously, spinning slowly on the spot as she turned to get a complete view of the lab. “This lab is really nice; we could even hold a fancy dinner or something in here, instead of always eating in the dining hall?”

At her suggestion, Kirumi smiled slightly, bowing her head politely as she did so. “If that is what you desire, I would be honoured to treat you all to a dinner in my lab.”

The pianist immediately spun to the maid, holding up a finger in defiance. “It wouldn’t be _just_ you, Toujou-san. Me—and others too, I’m sure,—would help as well!”

Apparently Kirumi was learning that it was pointless to argue with Kaede about certain things, for even though the displeasure at the blonde’s words were clear on her face, she simply continued smiling pleasantly. Shuichi couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, and he quickly made his way to Kaede’s side to join her in her investigation of the room. 

She was currently standing in front of the huge white closet door, which was so big it almost acted as a wall to the right side of the room. 

A maid’s closet…Shuichi couldn’t help but wonder what would be in there. More maid uniforms, perhaps? 

Voicing his thoughts, Kaede almost startled him with her next words. “What could be in the Ultimate Maid’s closet…Cleaning supplies, I guess?” 

Apparently that guess was a little too mundane for Kaede, though, because she immediately shifted gears as her eyes lit up with another thought. “Or maybe…more maid uniforms? I know we have spares of our regular clothes in our dorms, but maybe there are different styles, like French maid, Japanese maid, or maybe even a butler…!”

Getting fired up at her own words, Kaede huffed out a breath through her flared nostrils and excitedly slid open the closet door.

The detective could almost _see_ the moment her heart sunk.

He had to admit that thanks to Kaede’s predictions, even _he_ had become a little…curious, to say the least, and couldn’t help the slight disappointment he also felt at what really ended up being behind the closet doors. After the pianist’s theories, what they actually found seemed even more boring and mundane in comparison.

“Well, I guess that was sort of obvious, huh?” Kaede reflected, a sad and resigned smile adorning her features as she pressed on into the closet. “You were also looking forward to seeing different maid outfits, right, Saihara-kun?”

At this sudden accusation being thrown at him, he immediately flinched and went into the defensive purely on instinct. However, there was some truth to it this time, which just caused him to get even _more_ flustered than when he was just being baselessly accused, like usual. 

“Wh-wha?! No! I-I mean, it didn’t really matter to me either way…” He hastily pushed the words out, looking towards the boring washing machines to help ground him. 

“Hmm…really? I would have liked to see Toujou-san in a French maid uniform or butler uniform, though.” Kaede continued to sulk, though Shuichi wasn’t quite off the hook yet. “Saihara-kun…is there someone you would have wanted to see in uniform?”

The one asking this _was_ who he would have liked to see—if he _had_ to choose, of course! And so being asked such a question by the girl herself almost felt like she could see right through him, and he couldn’t help but feel his face go hot again as he felt her eyes on him. “N-not in particular…” he lied, praying to whatever God may have been watching that she would drop this topic.

“Really?” She asked more softly than before, and not in the suggestive or accusatory tone that he had been expecting, which caused him to momentarily forget about his hot face and look at her a bit curiously. “Not even anyone you knew from before we came here?”

He wasn’t sure what she meant, so all he could do was shake his head slowly as he continued to watch her. “U-um, no? I…I don’t think so?”

At his words—minimal as they were—Kaede seemed to lighten up a bit once more; though her refreshed smile was quickly replaced with what Shuichi had come to call her _Skeevy Salary-man Smirk_. “Well, good. Saihara-kun’s pure mind shouldn’t be tainted with those kinds of images anyway!”

He wasn’t sure why he said what next came out of his mouth. Perhaps it was the prospect of if the offer ever _did_ come to be a reality, no matter how minimal the possibility may be, he didn’t want her to think he shouldn’t see such things. 

And so, the less articulate part of him that was still undeniably a teenage boy and not an Ultimate Detective hastily blurted, “I-it won’t get tainted!” 

“Again, are you saying that it’s already _been_ tainted?” Kaede teased with a laugh as she turned away from him to walk further into the closet.

With that, he was apparently off the hook—literally. It felt as if he was being held up rigidly the entire time, and once the pianist had turned away from him, he immediately slumped, grabbing at his chest as if to physically subdue the thrashing of his heart.

Investigating with Kaede may have been a bad idea—it was certainly bad for his _heart_ , at least. He felt as if 5 years alone were shaved off of his lifespan just from the day he was having so far.

As the hammering of his heart died down naturally, he put all of his focus into looking around to help take his mind off of maid uniforms and who might be wearing them. Behind the closet ended up just being a bunch of laundry machines, vacuums, and pressure washers.

Shuichi couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. The labs so far had been filled with things the person loved—for Himiko, magic tricks and other such tools, and for Kaede, a grand piano and music. But in Kirumi’s lab, it seemed to just be filled with things to help clean up after others.

Though he supposed that _was_ what made her happy. Still, he didn’t think it would ever sit right with him.

“These appliances will prove most useful when I perform my cleaning,” Kirumi noted happily as she walked into the closet after the two of them. 

“Toujou-san, really, you don’t have to do that…” Shuichi tried to convince her despite himself, though he knew she probably wouldn’t budge on her beliefs. 

“I do not mind. To serve others is a maid’s duty. ‘Selfless devotion’ is the principle by which I perform my responsibilities as a maid,” She explained coolly, and it was hard to argue with her on that, so all Shuichi could do was acknowledge that it was that sort of thinking that led to her being the Ultimate Maid in the first place. 

“Please, let me know if you have a request. Given our current situation, I will not take monetary payment,” and with folded hands and a slight bow, Kirumi looked up at the two with a content smile. “I will do anything you ask.”

Anything…? Saying it like that was sort of intimidating. Not to mention, misleading…

_Oh, crap…_ Shuichi had completely forgotten exactly _who_ he was with, and hesitantly, he risked a glance at the pianist beside him.

“Toujou-san, when you say anything…” Kaede inquired as a scholarly frown formed on her face, making her look extremely grave for some reason. But she couldn’t fool Shuichi; he could tell that despite being a cute highschool girl on the outside, her inner old man was about to surface and probably say more things that would be bad for his health.

“U-um, I think we’ve seen everything in here. We’ll be leaving now, Toujou-san.” And with that, the detective quickly pulled the pianist by the arm, whisking her out of the lab before she could shave any _more_ years off of his life.

* * *

There was barely a moment of silence as the two continued traversing the new areas of the school, with Kaede still hung up on what Kirumi had said, and warning Shuichi to not take advantage of the maid in any way.

The detective couldn’t help but feel taken aback that _she_ was the one lecturing _him_ about it, but he let it slide as they continued walking.

As they rounded a corner, they immediately took noticed the small figure of the Ultimate Artist in the distance, and upon her noticing them as well, she wasted no time in trotting up to them.

“Shuichi and Kaede are here! We’ve been waiting for you! Hurry, hurry! We’re all ready!” Angie chirped as she grabbed their wrists in each of her hands, pulling them along gently, yet excitedly.

“Hurry…? Hurry for what?” Shuichi asked uncertainly, but they weren’t left wondering long—as soon as she had brought them to a rather suspicious looking chest, she let go of their hands, and folded her own happily as she laughed.

“Yahoo! We’ve found a treasure chest! Why don’t you open it, Shuichi?” Angie crooned, nudging him closer to the chest.

“Really…? I should open it?” He echoed, unsure. With her pushing him into opening it so fiercely, he was starting to get the sense that she was worried it might be dangerous, so she wanted the apparently-expendable detective to do it.

“Yeah, go on, Saihara-kun!” Kaede agreed to his surprise, raising her fist in support as she said so. Considering the _reason_ they wanted him to open it, it didn’t feel very supportive, but whatever.

He didn’t really know what to think about Angie, but Kaede was a shock. Shuichi would have thought _she_ would be the one to open it with gusto. Then again, there were times she had already proven that she could unexpectedly be a bit of a scaredy-cat.

The situation reminded him of when they first met, and she was scared to go down to the basement and so she made him walk in front.

Shuichi would be lying if he said it didn’t make him a _little_ bit happy. Kaede was usually so headstrong and independent, the times she relied on him like this and treated him more like a guy did give him a little bit of a much needed confidence boost. Not to mention, it was endearing to see that more vulnerable side of her every now and again.

Angie, on the other hand, he knew was just straight up using him as a meat shield.

“…Alright, fine,” the detective relented, before cracking open the chest with sweaty palms. The pianist was right behind him, peering from over his shoulder while Angie stayed a safe distance away, further proving Shuichi’s whole ‘meat shield’ theory.

“What is it?” Kaede questioned, not able to see clearly into the chest from where she was standing.

Gingerly, Shuichi took it out and looked at it with a quirked eyebrow. “A flashlight…?” he mumbled in disbelief. “No, it can’t be _just_ a flashlight…”

“Maybe try turning it on?” Angie suggested, though it was clear _she_ wouldn’t be the one doing it. 

“No, that’s too dangerous,” Shuichi refuted instantly. He was nervous enough even holding the thing. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if it exploded in his hands, after witnessing what had already happened with the crumbling walls. “We should inspect it—“

“Hmm? It’ll be okay,” Angie interrupted as she glazed over his worries with airy, unfounded confidence. “Even the flashlight is saying, ‘Turn me on! Hurry up and turn me on, Shuichi!’ It’s begging you.”

The detective wasn’t sure if she was doing this on purpose, but his palms were no longer the only thing sweating, and he rubbed at the back of his neck as he looked down awkwardly at her words. She was foreign, so maybe she wasn’t aware of the double entendre in her sentence. He was about to let it go and once again refuse her, when she continued. 

“ _Nyaha!_ It’s true, ‘turn me on, turn me on, Shuichi!’ Maybe if Kaede were the one to say it, you would do it?” and without missing a beat, Angie turned to the blonde with a smile. “Go on, Kaede! Say it! Say what the flashlight is saying! Turn me on, Shuichi! I can’t wait any longer, please, turn me on!”

It was actually sort of refreshing to finally not be the one who was on the receiving end of the embarrassment express, though Kaede was definitely more vocal with her discomposure than Shuichi was.

“H-hey! You’re doing that on purpose!” Kaede accused in a scolding tone, though it lost impact with how flustered she was. “And stop saying that, anyway!”

“Ah, I see, I see…So you are the only one allowed to say such words…Forgive me, I did not know! _Nyahaha!_ ” Angie sung a carefree laugh as Kaede turned even brighter red, though before the situation could get any more out of hand, Shuichi cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I-if, you’re so eager, why don’t _you_ flip the switch, Angie?” he challenged, and couldn’t help but feel a bit victorious at her silence.

Though Angie wasn’t exactly the type of person who could be one-upped, and after agreeing to meet him halfway and inspect the flashlight, she snatched it from him and ran off with a bounce in her step.

“W-wait, inspect it how?!” Kaede shouted after her, though there was no response back, just the sound of Angie’s footsteps getting farther and farther away. “Geez…is it really safe to let her look at that on her own…?”

“She does seem…a little careless,” the navy-haired detective said generously, “But it should be fine…She was cautious enough to not even want to open the chest or turn the flashlight on in the first place, after all.”

After reassuring Kaede into reluctant agreement, the two turned to face a door that they had both _seen_ from the corner of their eye, but hadn’t directly _addressed_ up until now for a very specific reason.

It was a research lab, and the door was covered in silhouettes of various insects. Shuichi looked over at Kaede, who was giving him the exact same look that he imagined was probably on his own face. With a sigh the detective turned the door handle and stepped inside, realizing fully that with the pianist ducking behind him, he had graduated from meat shield…to bug shield.

The lab itself turned out to actually not be as bad as he had feared, and Kaede quickly rose from her position behind him—either because she also realized it wasn’t so bad, or because Gonta was present and she didn’t want to make it seem like she was scared of bugs.

The amount of insect specimens lined up all over the walls were gross, yes, but Shuichi decided to count his blessings that they were at least specimens behind glass, and not roaming free throughout the room.

“Gonta-kun! So you were here. I suppose you must be pretty happy you finally get to see some bugs, huh?” Kaede inquired happily—she may not have loved bugs, but it was clear she was genuinely happy for what this room meant to Gonta.

“Yes! Now Gonta can study bugs as much as he want! Gonta very happy!” He confirmed enthusiastically with a warm blush. The sight made Shuichi happy as well, and so they both agreed to keep their rather negative opinions to themselves.

As for investigating, the room itself was quite bare, however, and the two were in and out in no time at all—which, of course, neither of them exactly complained about. 

The only place they hadn’t explored was up, and so they made their way to the stairs outside of Gonta’s research lab, to the third floor.

* * *

Upon reaching the unexplored floor, a lab which could only belong to Ryoma was to the immediate right, and Kaede walked past Shuichi in a flash, apparently excited to go in.

“My Ultimate classes might really work out!” She exclaimed hopefully as she looked up at the sign and admired the door. “Cooking, art, music, and this can be gym.”

So she was still hoping for everybody to participate in those classes. Shuichi admitted the idea was good in theory, but it was up to the actual _people_ to make it happen. And…he wasn’t so sure they would.

“Yeah…But Hoshi-kun mentioned that he was done with tennis…” Shuichi reminded hesitantly, not wanting to ruin her spirit. Luckily, it didn’t seem to deter the pianist much.

“He’s the Ultimate Tennis Pro, though. Even if he _says_ that, I’m sure he still really wants to play…” Kaede assured with a soft conviction. “And even if he doesn’t, we could still ask to use his lab. Sports like tennis and badminton were always my favourite, you know.”

“Mine too,” Shuichi revealed, looking down and rubbing his palms on his pants as he added, “But that’s because I’m not very athletic, and they’re less taxing than basketball or baseball…”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of!” Kaede declared, half-reassuring and half-reprimanding. “I’m a pianist, so it’s not like I’m the most athletic person in the world, either.”

The two were still chatting as they made their way into Ryoma’s lab, where the man himself was standing alone and looking around the room with his hands in his pockets.

As they entered, he only spared them a sideways glance before continuing to look around the room.

“Wow, so it really is an entire tennis court! This is perfect…” Kaede admired once again, seemingly amazed by all of the labs so far—save for Gonta’s.

“Yeah, must be nice having an entire tennis court here, huh, Hoshi-kun?” Shuichi ventured with a smile, hoping to get some sort of positive reaction out of him. 

It wasn’t so easy, however, and before giving the detective a brief look, Ryoma simply shook his head. “Hmph, I don’t care. I have nothing to do with tennis anymore.”

Well, the detective had been expecting a response like that. Still, it was a little disheartening.

Before Shuichi could say anything in response to him, Kaede immediately broke the silence. Whereas Shuichi was planning to gently question Ryoma a bit more, the pianist was quite blunt with her words.

“Hoshi-kun, that’s not true.” She denied flatly, looking at him with a steady gaze; she was one of the few, he noticed, who was able to meet that stare of Ryoma’s without faltering. “We’re all Ultimates, so you can’t lie to us…As the Ultimate Piano Freak, I know. You’re a Tennis Freak too, right? Why don’t you stop holding yourself back?”

“Tennis freak, huh…?” Ryoma may not have been taking her words to heart, but she at least got a dry chuckle out of him as he repeated her nickname. “You may have been able to call me that a long time ago…but that’s in the past.”

“But, you’re still the Ultima—“ 

before Kaede could finish, Ryoma swiftly cut her off. 

“And who decides when I stop being an Ultimate, huh? I don’t consider myself the Ultimate Tennis Pro anymore…Can you really say you’ll be the Ultimate Pianist at 90 years old?” Ryoma adjusted his hat so that she couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore as he finished what he had to say. “Just…think of me as someone who retired a little bit early.” 

Shuichi could tell that Kaede, for one, had more to say, but she probably realized it, too. No matter what either of them said, they wouldn’t be able to change his mind even if they spoke until they were blue in the face. And so the pianist swallowed her words and looked down at him with sad frustration before walking off into another corner of his lab to investigate.

Shuichi was left awkwardly standing in front of the tennis pro, and was about to go investigate on his own to escape from his intimidating presence, when Ryoma spoke up to stop him. 

“She’s got a fire in her,” He acknowledged, looking at Kaede who was investigating on the other side of the room with a wry smile. “Reminds me of…a girl I used to know.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure what to say to that, and shifted a little on the spot to better look at Ryoma. “Yeah…Akamatsu-san is constantly lending me her strength.”

The Ultimate Tennis Pro looked up at Shuichi then, giving him a knowing smile, though Shuichi wasn’t exactly sure _what_ he was supposed to know. 

“You were able to keep her safe…that’s more than I can say for myself. Even if it means putting yourself in danger, protect her. Being the one who gets left behind…I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, kid.”

Now the detective was _really_ at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure where this came from, but Ryoma had clearly just disclosed a huge insight into his past, possibly about a past lover or relative, and so Shuichi appreciated the trust. 

“I understand.” was all the detective said, but it seemed enough to please the tennis pro, who just let out a gruff noise of approval before lowering his hat and walking to another area of the court.

With that, Shuichi returned to Kaede, who was picking up the slack on his end investigation wise, though looking very glum as she did so. When she noticed Shuichi approaching, she turned to him, her eyes flickering from the detective to the tennis pro in the background.

“I hope he doesn’t hate me now for being so nosy.” she confessed with a smile—a habit, Shuichi noticed, that Kaede had. She tended to smile when confronted with negative emotions, just like when she was smiling when they all thought she was the blackened.

Whether it was a defense mechanism for herself, or if it was for the sake of others, Shuichi couldn’t say.

“He doesn’t hate you,” the detective reassured honestly, though Kaede didn’t look quite convinced. “I was just speaking with him. I…think he admires you, actually.”

“R-really?” Kaede gaped in disbelief, confusion clear on her face. “Honestly, what’s there to admire about a Piano Freak like me…?” Though despite her words, Shuichi noticed the little bit of colour that crept up to her pale cheeks. “But, I’m glad.”

Her forced smile immediately brightened into a genuine and brilliant one; as if the lights had been on dim and were now brought up to full strength.

“Well, at least I got my chance to make up for slacking off in Yumeno-san’s lab,” Kaede clarified, wagging a finger at him as if she were scolding him, “While you were talking, I think I pretty much got everything in here.”

After Kaede explained the results of her investigation and the two did a quick once over of the area just to make sure, they quietly said goodbye to Ryoma before heading out of his lab.

* * *

The two were soon in front of the doors to the last lab, and therefore at end of their investigation. They had officially covered as much of the school as they could—save for this last door—and Shuichi _couldn’t open it fast enough_.

Before his fingertips could even _touch_ the doorknob, however, it opened on its own so quickly and slammed shut again just as fast, that he almost didn’t even see the Ultimate Child Caregiver slip out. But there she was, suddenly standing in front of the door, shooting daggers at both him and Kaede.

“Ah! Harukawa-san?” the detective croaked in surprise at her sudden appearance. If she was in there, did that mean it was her lab? The door didn’t exactly _look_ like something belonging to the Ultimate Child Caregiver, especially when Shuichi thought back to all of the labs they’d seen thus far.

“…I didn’t give you permission to enter,” she said stiffly, confirming his suspicion that it was indeed her room. She spoke calmly enough; though the way she was staring at him and the pianist, he was sure she wouldn’t let them get in without resistance.

In response to both the aura she was giving off and her defensive body language, Shuichi took a careful step back—though, he wasn’t about to give up on seeing the lab just yet.

“So this is your lab…Can Akamatsu-san and I come inside for a bit? We won’t mess anything up, we’re just investigating,” the detective informed, hoping perhaps she would let them in for the sake of information.

Her response, however, was cold and concise. 

“No.” she replied succinctly, and turned so sharply back towards her door that her long dark twin-tails almost hit him in the face. “Goodbye.”

“Ah?! W-wait—“The detective began to call out, despite knowing full well he was probably just wasting his breath. At that same moment, however, Kaede took a step past him, grabbing Maki on the shoulder before she could escape back into her lab.

As soon as the pianists hand came into contact with the caregivers shoulder, it was almost as if he could _feel_ the air around them freeze. Shuichi quickly turned to Kaede, about to suggest they just leave after all…but there wasn’t even a trace of hesitation or fear on the pianists face as she looked straight ahead at the back of Maki’s head.

Slowly, the dark haired girl turned so that she could look back at them. Her eyes, covered in the shadow of her bangs, just seemed even more crimson than usual as they zeroed in on Kaede’s hand.

“ _Do you want to d_ —“the caregiver murmured in a low voice, though immediately halted and turned her face back to look in front of her. She stood still like that for a few moments, before once more fully turning around to face them as the blonde removed her hand in the process. 

“Why won’t you let us in?” Kaede asked, straightforward as ever.

“I like my privacy,” Maki retorted.

“Then hide what you don’t want us to see before we go in!” the pianist offered cheerfully.

“I _am_. I don’t want you to see the entire lab. The door is already doing a fine job of hiding that.” Maki quipped back, clearly losing her patience.

Realizing this was getting her nowhere fast, the stern expression on Kaede’s face quickly shifted into a relaxed, friendly smile. “Is it ‘cause there’s a boy here? You just had to say so. Saihara-kun, you wait out here. I’ll be the only one to—“ 

Kaede began to walk towards Maki’s lab as she suggested her new plan of action. The owner of the lab, however, was on her in an instant; her face was so close to the pianists that Shuichi wasn’t sure if their noses were touching or not.

“I _said_ —“

“Yoo- _hoooo!_ ” a familiar and unwelcome voice rang out, and nobody even bothered to turn to look at the arrival of the Ultimate Supreme Leader. However, at his appearance, Maki backed off from Kaede and resumed her original position right in front of her door…whereas Shuichi let out the breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding.

“Whoa-ho- _ho!_ Did I walk in on some steamy yuri action?!” Kokichi asked with the excitement of a child, looking between the two girls and then resting his gaze on Shuichi. “Nishishi, and the Ultimate Detective, with a front-row seat…Putting your investigation skills to work, huh?”

“Ouma-kun…” Shuichi could only give an exasperated sigh in response due to how off the mark the other boy was—though, the exasperation was also because Kokichi knew damn well what was _actually_ going on. Still, his presence had managed to diffuse the situation somewhat, at least.

Pretending to finally clue in just at that moment, the dictator cocked his head to the side curiously as he prodded his chin with his index finger. “Or wait, was it a catfight? _Ooh_ , then I put my money on Harukawa-chan!”

“T-that’s not…” Kaede began disconcertedly, trailing off into a defeated sigh. “Saihara-kun and I were just asking Harukawa-san if it would be possible to get into her lab.”

“Y-yeah, but its fine, Akamatsu-san,” the detective concluded, finally speaking up now that the oppressive atmosphere Maki created was dispersing, thanks to Kokichi’s presence. “Not being able to investigate one room isn’t too much of an issue.”

“Y-yeah, you’re right.” she agreed half-heartedly as she chewed her lip, clearly frustrated with the outcome of the entire situation. Not only had she not been able to convince Maki to allow them to investigate her lab, but she had also clearly upset the other girl. “Sorry, Harukawa-san…I just…”

Maki simply stared at the pianist, though after a few moments of watching her try to find the right words, the caregiver simply closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. “Its fine,” she huffed. “If you’re _really_ sorry, take that annoying brat with you.” And in an instant, her ice-hot glare was now on Kokichi.

Unfortunately for Maki, however, her wish to be separated from the supreme leader would not be granted as quickly as she had hoped.

“Yahoo! Found you, Shuichi!” the exuberant voice of the Ultimate Artist rang out, and Shuichi noticed Maki rub at her temples with the arrival of yet another hard to deal with student. “I didn’t know where you were, I’ve been looking everywhere!”

Well, there was only one reason Angie of all people would be looking for him.

“Ah, did you find out anything about the flashlight?” the detective ventured, asking more for formality and to fill the others in. 

“Yup, I finally figured it out!” She confirmed, clasping her hands together happily at the good news she brought. “It seems like Atua wants us to gather in the gym for an explanation!” She declared, no longer simply looking at Shuichi but addressing all of them now.

Wasting no time, as soon as the words had left her mouth she had almost immediately spun on her heel, singing out her signature _‘bye-onara!’_ as her voiced bounced down the stairs.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but sounds like fun!” Kokichi exclaimed, hot on Angie’s heels as he also made his way to the gym.

Still, if Angie said that “Atua” was going to explain how the flashlight worked, something told the detective that she _didn’t_ figure it out. 

“Guess we should go,” Shuichi remarked, turning to the two girls.

“After you,” Maki said with feigned politeness, though the intention of not wanting them to be left alone in front of her lab was clear.

“Alright, then, let’s go! If Angie wants us all to gather, she must have figured out something important,” Kaede surmised, leaving the floor with surprising speed, no doubt just desperate to be free of the awkward and oppressive atmosphere.

“R-right, then I’ll be off too,” the detective said nervously, sparing one last glance at Maki as he quickly made his way down the stairs as well, following after Kaede.

He didn’t know what Angie had to tell them, but if she really had figured out something relating to the flashlight…

The items that led them to its discovery in the first place were supposed to be _prizes_ , right? So under that logic, whatever the flashlight’s true purpose was, it had to benefit them in some way…

…Right?

Shuichi swallowed dryly, hyper-aware of his Adam’s apple bobbing uncomfortably in his throat as he pushed open the doors to the gym with tentative hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im crying, according to my drafts we're still on chapter 1 LOL. I had planned to show the gym scene + more in this chapter as well but decided it was long enough.
> 
> Also, i've decided im going to change the trials after all!! i want to be able to write out the trials, but I wouldn't be able to do that if it was the same cases we all know already. UNFORTUNATELY, however, the very first case involving ryoma and toujou will be the only one unchanged. I have things planned for other characters, so those two just happen to be the only ones who i can afford to let die, and they also are the real target and victim in the game anyway. I thought of changing up HOW the murder goes down so i can write the trial, but i havent decided if i'll do that or just skip it completely/summarize it. we shall seeeeeeeeeeeeeee (spoiler: will probably just summarize cuz im lazy and wanna get to other stuff i have planned)


	5. Chapter 5

Kaede’s eyes immediately met with Shuichi’s as he opened the double-doors of the gym, making him the last to arrive.

Upon noticing his entrance, Angie celebrated the appearance of the final student as the boy awkwardly made his way over to the rest of them.

“Good, we’re all here!” she cheered, drawing all pairs of eyes to her as she rustled through her yellow outerwear for what Kaede and Shuichi suspected could only be the flashlight. “Check this out!”

As expected, the strange flashlight was soon in her hands, raised up for all of the other students to see, and Kaede couldn’t help but feel a slight rush of relief at seeing it undamaged. Shuichi had been right, of course, but she still couldn’t help but worry the clumsy artist may have accidentally ended up disfiguring it somehow.

A wave of curious murmurs rippled through the gymnasium at the seemingly normal object, either questioning it, or wondering why it was even important in the first place.

“So, did you learn anything about it?” Kaede asked optimistically, somehow both believing in Angie and not at the same time. For one, it was hard to believe the artist had managed to figure out what it was for—besides being a regular flashlight—just by looks alone and not taking it apart, but again, she _had_ called them all here, so it must have been for a reason.

“ _Nyahahaha_ , no, no! In the end, I couldn’t figure anything out,” the white haired girl revealed cheerfully, despite her lack of results. 

At that, Kaede could only look on with a patient, confused smile—though she didn’t miss the detective beside her pinch the bridge of his nose.

“You couldn’t?” Was all he asked, though from the exasperation in his tone, the second meaning of his words was clear: _why **did** you gather all of us here, then?_

“If there’s nothing, then I’m leaving.” Maki’s voice cut through the rabble from somewhere in the back, and upon stealing a glance from the corner of her eye, Kaede noticed she was the closest to the gym doors out of anyone. Probably so that she could be the first out of the gym and back to guarding her lab at a moment’s notice.

“Ah, patience, _patience_ ~!” Angie sung in her carefree voice, adding on something or other about how important patience was to Atua, as if anybody was really trying to please her God. “I inspected it pretty good, but couldn’t figure it out…So I asked someone else!”

Someone else? Kaede’s first thought had been Miu—surely the Ultimate Inventor would be able to disassemble it and see what made it tick, right? Though after taking one look at said inventor, it was clear that she was just as confused as everyone else.

Well, _almost_ everyone else. At Angie’s words, Shuichi’s posture got a little straighter as he stood to attention. “…You don’t mean—“

Before the detective could finish his sentence, Monokuma—presumably the source of his panic—arrived out of nowhere, graceful as ever. The students could only watch on in stunned silence every time, with the way he fell out from god knows where in the ceiling and bounced around a bit before recollecting himself.

“If somethin’ has you worried, just let Monokuma handle it!” the bear announced in lieu of any sort of greeting, though his bizarre entrances were always greeting enough.

“Tell us, Monokuma. What is this flashlight?” Angie inquired, nonplussed as ever; for all her reaction betrayed, she could have been talking to a casual acquaintance that she ran into at the supermarket.

“Why, that’s a Flashback Light,” The monochrome bear revealed easily, and if he was saying what Kaede _thought_ he was saying, there was no way that could be true. 

Naturally, a chorus of disbelief and surprise rang out at his words, and the Ultimate Pianist was inclined to agree. When even the Ultimate Inventor was saying that there was no way a _flashlight_ could restore memories, it must have been true, right? After all, Kaede would rather believe a fellow Ultimate than whatever Monokuma was trying to sell them.

“So…what should we do?” Keebo asked, which was clearly the most important question as of right now. Whether it was truly a light that could restore memories or not was one thing, but should they even risk it in the first place?

“No way! I refuse! It reeks of fishiness!” Tenko immediately protested, staring at the contraption nervously.

“I…think I have to agree,” Kaede said softly, though quickly gathered her courage and raised her voice as she continued. “There’s no way of knowing if that’s _actually_ what the flashlight’s for…What if it does something sinister like, I don’t know, brainwashes us?”

“Brainwash, eh…? I guess if we’re going to humour the idea that the flashlight could bring back memories, something like that could also be possible…” Ryoma mused darkly.

“Hmmm…in that case, then, the flashlight could be another motive in disguise. Something that will eventually drive us to kill, perhaps?” Kirumi supplied helpfully, supporting Kaede’s ponderings.

“Then maybe we should just destroy it right now? These possibilities sound plain scary…” the Ultimate Cosplayer suggested uncertainly. 

“Nyeh…I agree…I can feel a powerful dark magic emanating from it,” Himiko added, staring at the flashlight as if it were about to jump up and attack at any moment.

“True, I have never heard of such an object that could simply restore memories in any culture…and if one of us may have come across such a thing, I should think it most certainly would have been me…” Korekiyo stated as he looked at the flashlight suspiciously. 

…Though it was hard to tell if he was _truly_ wary of it, or if he was just a bit bothered that he had never discovered such an object in his studies before—if it really _did_ bring back memories, that was. 

“Yeah. Gonta no can believe anything good can come from using flashlight Monokuma made,” and the way the hulking high-schooler was staring at it, Kaede wondered if he really was just going to destroy it like Tsumugi had suggested.

“…I don’t think we should do it…I’m scared it might cause some weird side effects…” Kokichi also agreed _much_ to Kaede’s surprise, though she didn’t exactly put much weight on his opinion, considering it could change at the drop of a hat.

The room seemed to be in favour of Kaede’s suggestion so far, but the fact that Shuichi hadn’t spoken up in agreement as well definitely didn’t go unnoticed by her. 

She risked a glance at him, but his expression was neutral, clearly lost in thought as he looked straight ahead. The pianist quickly turned away from him before he noticed her watching, though his lack of consensus definitely made her a bit less confident in her initial opinion. Was she just running away from it because she was scared?

“Saihara-kun…What do _you_ think we should do?”

He immediately snapped out of his vacant expression, quickly turning to look at Kaede in surprise. “Ah, um…”

When he realized not just Kaede herself, but _everyone_ was now looking to him—looking to hear the opinion of the Ultimate Detective—he closed his mouth and took a moment to formulate a more thought out response.

“I…definitely think it is true that it’s a risk,” he started, looking to Kaede as he said so, and that just made her positive that whatever he was about to say was going to conflict with what she had been suggesting. “But, it’s also too risky to leave alone.”

“Alright! Then it’s decided! Let’s use it!” Kaito immediately encouraged, as if he had just been waiting for somebody—anybody—to bring up the idea of using it so that he could jump on that.

“If you want to use it so badly, why did you wait until just now to speak up…?” the Ultimate Child Caregiver sighed incredulously as she called him out, though Kaito pretended not to hear her.

“H-hold on! If it’s too risky to leave alone…Can’t we just break it?” Tsumugi offered, apparently dead-set on the idea of smashing the flashlight.

“No…I didn’t mean risky in the _dangerous_ sense, though that’s also certainly true,” and again, Shuichi’s eyes flicked to Kaede as he said so, as if trying to prove that her worries were valid and not undermine her opinion. “But if we leave it, we’ll simply never know, and ignorance is also dangerous. If these really _are_ flashback lights to reveal our memories, that could give us a lot of insight and a huge advantage…and as a detective, I can’t just turn away from the truth that these may uncover.”

The room was silent as they soaked in his words, and already, he had swayed Kaede. Not that it took much—just his silence alone had made her less confident in her opinion, and now actually hearing what he had to say as the Ultimate Detective, there was really no way she could argue. 

Not that she wanted to, of course. She agreed 100%, and couldn’t help but feel the warmth that spread through her chest at his words. She had been the one that preached about not running away from the truth…and yet here she was, trying to do just that, while he stood firm. 

When had the student become the teacher?

The silence as everybody thought about his words seemed to shake Shuichi’s confidence a little, and he quickly spoke up as he looked around at all of them.

“T-though like I said, it _is_ a risk, so if everyone agrees to it, we can just use it on me, and I’ll let you know what happened…” he offered.

“There’s no way we can let you do that, man! No way I’m gonna let you take the fall if something bad happens,” Kaito protested loudly, shattering the quiet atmosphere as he strode up to the detective and threw an arm around his shoulders. “Right?”

“Yeah! I’ll do it too!” Kaede piped up as well, causing Shuichi to look at her in shock—or, he _would_ have looked to her in shock, if he wasn’t struggling to move his head in Kaito’s headlock.

“A-Akamatsu-san, you don’t have to…” the detective started, wiggling in Kaito’s grip and maneuvering his head so that he could look up at Kaede over the astronauts arm. “What you said wasn’t wrong, it _is_ still risky, I’m just being a bit stubborn, as a detective…”

“Well, I’m pretty stubborn myself,” Kaede waved off his concerns with a determined smile, and he returned a rather exhausted looking one; a testament to just _how_ aware he was of how stubborn she could be. “I can’t exactly tell you to face the truth when I’m trying to run away now, can I? So let’s do it!”

“These idiots…” Maki said in disbelief as she looked on at the three of them.

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Kokichi cheered unsurprisingly, his opinion flipping and flapping like a leaf in the wind. “Besides, there’s no way I can let you guys do it on your own. I’d kick myself waaaay hard if _you_ guys got your memory back and not me.”

“F-fine, but if something happens to me, y’all better beg my fans, the world, and humanity for forgiveness!” Miu bellowed in what was also apparently her agreement.

Now that the ball was rolling, more and more people agreed until eventually everyone was on board…even the people who had been wanting to smash it, or were convinced it was cursed.

“So all of us _are_ doing it in the end…what a waste of time…” the twin-tailed girl huffed, making a clicking sound with her tongue.

Kaede didn’t have anything to apologize for, but she still couldn’t resist the urge to at Maki’s annoyance.

“It seems we are all in agreement,” Kirumi nodded and looked to Angie, who happily nodded in return.

“Then I’m gonna turn it on!” The artist announced, perhaps so that anybody who had second thoughts could leave the gym. Everyone remained motionless in anticipation, however, and Angie confidently held up the flashlight as she yelled.

“Click!”

_Click._

* * *

Kaede briefly wondered if this was what people experienced when they claimed their life had flashed before their eyes.

Briefly was right, though—between the head-splitting pain of her mind being ravaged and the overwhelming sensory overload, she only barely managed to humour the thought for what was most likely not even a second.

The scenes and memories that were being played in her head were so vivid that it was hard to believe she had ever forgotten them in the first place. Unlike a foggy memory resurfacing with effort, it was as if someone had inserted a video tape straight into her head, showing her the life she had forgotten.

Just as soon as the dam had burst and everything had come flooding back, it sealed shut again just as quickly, leaving Kaede reeling for a moment as she gathered what, exactly, had happened.

The gym was filled with absolute silence and stillness as everybody recovered from their shell-shocked state, but their faithful class detective was the first to snap out of it.

“I remember now!” He exclaimed in a voice much louder than usual, probably because of the ringing that was most likely in all of their ears. “In order to escape the Ultimate Hunt, I erased my own memory—“ 

“W-wait! Did you say ‘Ultimate Hunt’!?” Kaito repeated, his face an unhealthy shade of blue.

“You guys, too?!” Miu all but screamed—she was already loud to begin with, and the ringing in her ears was clearly doing her no favours.

Listening to everybody speak out, it was clear that they had all seen, generally speaking, the same thing.

A feeling of impending doom, danger, wanting to escape…Running away from whatever this ‘Ultimate Hunt’ was…

And even casting aside their skills as Ultimates to do so.

The most aggravating part, however, was despite remembering these things, they had no context. Yes, they remembered the feeling of danger and urgency, to a point where they went so far as to erase their memories…

But why? Where did that feeling come from? What was so dangerous? And what was this Ultimate Hunt?

Kaede realized it immediately after hearing those words. Ultimate Hunt. This wasn’t the first time she had heard this term. There had been one person among them who mentioned that. Who could have helped them…

…And he was dead. Dead, partly because of her. 

Looking around at the confused, scared faces of her classmates, Kaede could only think how it should have been her instead of Rantaro. She was just as lost as the rest of them. Useless. Rantaro could have…

Prisoner to her own self-deprecating thoughts, Kaede hadn’t been fully paying attention to what they were all talking about…Until Kirumi spoke up.

“It seems losing _him_ made a far bigger impact then we expected,” The maid said, matter-of-factly, and even though she was just stating the truth, she may as well have slapped Kaede across the face.

“Him?” Maki inquired, back to her composed self.

“Amami-kun,” Shuichi breathed in realization. He had been there with Kaede when the other boy had mentioned it, after all. “He brought it up before…But, why was he the only one to remember the Ultimate Hunt? Even without the Flashback Light…?”

“Yeah, this sucks!” Kokichi pouted with childlike exaggeration. “If _only_ he were still here…”

Kaede didn’t miss the not-so-subtle way his eyes and body shifted in her direction after he said that. As if that weren’t enough—perhaps for the students who either weren’t too bright, or weren’t paying attention—he smiled as he twisted the knife some more.

“Don’t you think so too, Akamatsu-chan?”

The Ultimate Detective apparently had been expecting Kokichi to say something to her, because before the smaller boy could even say her name, Shuichi was speaking over him.

“That’s enough, Ouma-kun,” he said, trying to get it out so quickly that there wasn’t much force to it.

“Hmm? I was speaking to our beloved princess here, not her knight in shining armor,” Kokichi brushed him off easily, once more turning his attention to the pianist.

“What do you want me to say…?” Kaede asked pathetically. Nobody regretted her actions and what had happened more than she herself. What more did Kokichi want her to say? She would say anything it took, but words would never be enough.

“Of course I wish he was still around!” Her voice wavered, but she still managed to shout. Not at the boy, just in general. Maybe at herself. “I wish that more than anything, and…I know that he’s gone in part because of what horrible thing I tried to do!”

She may as well lay it all bare. Clearly Kokichi wouldn’t be satisfied until she had dug herself into a hole. And if she wasn’t going to do it herself, she was positive he was ready, shovel in hand. At least this way, she would be able to tell them what she had been thinking honestly from her own mouth.

“Knowing what the Ultimate Hunt was…It’s clear that Amami-kun knew more than what he let on, and if I could, I would go back in time so I could take his place. He would be a way bigger help to you guys, rather than just me, who can only try to get everyone to work together and give you crappy motivational speeches…”

Kaede chuckled dryly as she spoke, though despite her smile, she was sure the anguish was still plain on her face with how Shuichi was looking at her. He tried to speak up and refute her points, but she held up her hand, signaling it was okay.

“But, I’m here now, not Amami-kun. So…even if I’m not very good at it, or if you guys are just getting tired of it, getting us all to work together to escape this killing game is the one thing I can try to do!” Kaede declared, her voice rising in volume once more. 

“We may not know what the Ultimate Hunt was, but we got back some of our memories, which is a good step, right? This new information, too, is thanks to Amami-kun’s sacrifice for us…I’m positive if we keep working together, we’ll be out of here in no time!”

With her fists clenched, Kaede looked around at all of them with bated breath.

“She’s right!” Kaito’s voice was the first to boom out, making Kaede flinch slightly due to the complete silence they were in prior to that. “We just gotta work together. If we cooperate, we’ll make it out of here alive.”

“True enough…Maybe Amami sacrificed himself to give us the Ultimate Hunt memory. We only got it as a reward for completing a trial, after all, and he did seem to know things we didn’t,” Ryoma hypothesized for all to hear, though lowered his voice to add, “Maybe he didn’t see the value in himself surviving, and helped us out at the cost of his own life…”

“Why did he not just tell us about the Ultimate Hunt himself, then?” Kirumi inquired with a thoughtful tilt of her head.

“Would we have really believed him?” Shuichi challenged, looking up and to the left as if he were flipping through his mind for memories. “With his mannerisms and how mysterious he was…Not to mention the fact that we’re in a killing game…I don’t think words alone would have been enough to convince everyone.”

“HAHA! Damn straight! No way I’d believe anything that shady motherfucker had to say!” Miu guffawed in agreement, and added on an unnecessary ‘I’m glad he’s dead!’ that nobody seemed to acknowledge. 

“Sacrificing himself for the sake of giving us knowledge…? Nyaha, wow! Certainly Rantaro is having a cozy tea party with Atua Himself as we speak!” Angie marveled approvingly.

“But…we learned of the Ultimate Hunt, certainly, though we are still unsure of what, exactly, it is,” Keebo hesitantly spoke up, clearly not enjoying being the bearer of less-than-good news. “Will these memories even end up helping us?”

“True,” Shuichi acknowledged, playing devil’s advocate right along with the Ultimate Robot. “Not to mention, the fact that Amami-kun knew of the Ultimate Hunt and then the memory we got after his death was also of the Ultimate Hunt…it doesn’t necessarily mean he intended for us to know. It’s a nice thought, but we can’t exactly prove that…”

“Then…What if him remembering the Ultimate Hunt is what made him commit suicide in the first place?” Tsumugi asked with a horrified sort of realization, grabbing onto Gonta’s arm to steady herself.

“Instead of all this guesswork, if everyone truly wants to know so badly, we could perform a séance and ask Amami-kun himself…” Korekiyo offered, his mask shifting on his face as his breathing became heavier beneath it.

“Don’t say such ominous things, dammit! I’m sure what we were saying before was right! He gave his life to help us!” Kaito argued, though it sounded less like an argument and more like he was pleading for that to be true. 

“Yes, Gonta want to believe in Amami-kun, too,” the gentle giant agreed, smiling down at the astronaut, which seemed to calm Kaito slightly. “Gonta not really sure what going on, but…Gonta agree with Akamatsu-san! We all work together!”

Kaede was touched by Gonta’s words—though it would have been a lot _more_ touching if the sound of snoring hadn’t started up in the middle of his encouragement.

Kaede didn’t have to look to know that it was Kokichi, but she did anyway, and wasn’t surprised at what she saw.

“…Why are you sleeping?!” Keebo, ever the unintentional straight-man to Kokichi’s antics, was the first to speak up against the leader as usual. 

“Typical degenerate behavior!” Tenko spat, assuming a fighting stance. “The conversation steered away from how he wanted, so now he’s being a sore loser!”

“Ouma-kun,” Kaede addressed him warily, though she was probably the worst one to try to talk to him right now. “What are you thinking?”

“…Huh?” The boy asked groggily, rubbing the fake sleep out of his eyes. “All this mushy talk about getting along and cooperation just made me a little sleepy…”

“Is there something wrong with wanting to work together?” the pianist asked defensively. Did Kokichi actually have a reason to be against it, or was he just trying to stir the pot like always?

“Hmm, I just think if you guys keep blabbering on about teamwork and cooperation, Monokuma wouldn’t be too happy with that, would he?”

“Get to the point. What are you implying?” Maki snapped at him impatiently for clarification.

“When Akamatsu-chan got us all to work together, Monokuma added on _another_ motive on top of the first. Maybe he realized nobody was going to kill with how things were going, so he _made_ us…using that cheap, uninspired, toootally lazy time-limit motive.” Kokichi explained.

“So…you’re saying the more we try to work together, the more Monokuma will try to mess with us?” Shuichi verified, and the look of thought on his face proved that he didn’t exactly think that what Kokichi was saying was untrue.

“It does make some sense…” the Ultimate Anthropologist agreed, playing with the decorative buttons on his uniform. “If there is no conflict between us, then it would naturally be up to the one who is running this killing game to create it for us…”

“E-even so, everyone! Despite whatever Monokuma tries, we can overcome it!” the pianist insisted, though at this point she was just pleading, _hoping_ that they agreed with her line of thought.

“Nyeh…that’s assuming Monokuma doesn’t cheaply use the same time-limit motive again…What would we do then…?” Himiko mumbled nervously.

Kaede bit her lip, aggravated at how much the mood had suddenly turned on its head. There were unsure murmurs within the gym, though thankfully Kaito and his boisterous ways cut the tension in the room.

“You better quit messing around!” he yelled as he strode up to Kokichi angrily, his fists clenched all the while.

“Eh? You think I’m messing around right now?” the supreme leader gaped in disbelief, taking a step back as Kaito continued to move towards him. “Cuz I think _I’m_ the only one actually thinking realistically here.”

“That’s it!” Kaito roared, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. “I’m gonna slug him!”

“Momota-kun, you can’t!” the pianist stepped forward, her arm shooting out in front of the astronaut’s chest. 

She understood his frustration—oh, she understood it better than anybody—but she couldn’t preach getting along and working together if she didn’t try to include _everyone_. And that included Kokichi. 

Despite Kaede’s interference, however, Kokichi still let out a cry.

“Aaaahh! He’s gonna punch me! I gotta make a break for it!” the short dictator exclaimed, clearly just using it as an excuse to leave as he made a mad dash out of the gym.

“Ouma-kun, wait!” Kaede shouted after him, and before she knew it, her legs were moving on their own as she followed him out of the gym.

* * *

“Ouma-kun— _stop_ —why—are you even running?” Kaede called to him in between breaths, which wasn’t exactly a good idea. Keeping her breath while running was hard enough without trying to yell, and she definitely wasn’t a runner. First the love hotel and now this, it was probably the most she’d ran in a long while.

Despite her cries Kokichi kept running, even though the apparent reason of his escape—Kaito—was nowhere in sight.

“I’m running ‘cause you’re chasing me!” he yelled back simply, sharply turning a corner and disappearing. Kaede rounded the corner a bit after him—albeit a bit more ungracefully—and was relieved to see he hadn’t somehow just vanished.

“Okay—then I’ll stop!” she bargained with him, her footsteps getting heavier and louder as her exhaustion increased. After saying so, she came to a stop, though the boy in front of her didn’t follow suit. Instead, he looked back briefly, flashed her a smile, and continued his sprint.

_You…!_

Kaede grinded her teeth, willing herself to start moving again. Now that she had stopped, though, it was harder to get her body to start moving once more. She somehow managed, however, and let out a groan of frustration as she continued her pursuit.

“I just want to talk!” She yelled, though the only response she got was his quick footsteps ahead of her.

Despite his height, he was _fast_ , though she supposed it made sense for someone who was probably always on the run to be able to _literally_ be able to run.

The fact that she was taller than him was probably the only thing preventing him from completely losing her, though her stamina clearly did not match his. She had to put a stop to this soon, or else he’d manage to lose her. 

She could hear him laughing as he continued to run, and it aggravated her not only that he _was_ laughing, but that he _could_ laugh while running. Talking was one thing, but laughing was literally just expelling air! It was two birds with one stone when it came to mocking the pursuing pianist.

As they ran, Kaede could almost see the light bulb above her head as she realized Kokichi would hit a dead end soon, and if he wanted to avoid that, he would _have_ to go to the right. And so, knowing that, she slipped into a classroom, running through it and exiting via the second door which opened to another area of the hall on the right, where she predicted Kokichi would be.

Kaede burst out of the second doorway, and could practically hear the cartoonish sound effect of Kokichi dragging his heels to stop from colliding with her. The pianist couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride and victory for finally being one step ahead of him, though before she could put her victory to use, the boy spun on a dime and bolted the way he had come.

The girl followed closely behind, though wasn’t worried since she knew he was heading to the dead end hall. He must have known, too, but he kept running with a smile on his face.

Sure enough, the dead end soon approached, and Kokichi stopped with his back to her. Kaede caught up to him with a light jog, trying to quickly catch her breath as fast as she could so that she could talk to him before he tried anything again. Standing behind him, her breaths were the only noise as he continued to stare at the wall.

He turned around slowly, his mouth in a closed—closed!—smile, no hint of exertion whatsoever.

“Wow, you really caught me!” the Ultimate Supreme Leader praised, though now she couldn’t tell if she really had, or if he had just decided to finally let her. “You really surprised me, chasing me out of the gym like that, Akamatsu-chan! You really aren’t boring, you know?”

He was leaning with his back against the wall now, arms up behind his head and looking like the picture of relaxation. So, it was just a game of tag to him, of course.

Now that Kaede had actually caught him, however, she was at a loss of what to say. Being alone with him like this was such a rare opportunity, she couldn’t put it to waste. But there was so _much_ she wanted to say to him, it was hard to put it into words without just interrogating him.

Did he really not want to cooperate because he was worried about Monokuma, or was he just trying to make things more fun for him? Did he really not care about himself or anybody else dying if it made the game more interesting? Thinking all these things just aggravated her further, because he would be such a strong asset if he would _just cooperate_ with them.

But in the end, she said none of those things, and simply looked him in the eyes as she asked him what was on her mind.

“Is it because you hate me? You can’t forgive me?”

Kokichi had been leaning back, a slight smile on his face as he watched her struggle to formulate something to say. And as soon as it was out, his smile vanished, and he cocked his head innocently as if he couldn’t even fathom the idea.

“Hate you, Akamatsu-chan? After we just played tag? I just said you weren’t boring, didn’t I?”

It was never a straight answer with him. She went through the trouble to chase him and now here he was, so she wanted some genuine words out of his mouth, dammit.

With a forceful step forward, Kaede closed the distance between them, and for the second time today, she got to experience a Kabe-don. Only this time, it was _her_ hand on the wall as she looked down at Kokichi. 

“I’m being serious, Ouma-kun,” Kaede appealed desperately, “Why won’t you work together with us? If you were on our side, I’m convinced we’d be able to get out of here!”

“I already said, I don’t think working together is the key to getting out of here,” he countered simply, not taken aback in the slightest by her sudden intrusion of his space. “Trying to get me to go along with your opinions isn’t ‘working together’—it’s just forcing me.”

Okay, so sure, it wasn’t going great, but Kokichi was at least looking at her seriously, and didn’t _sound_ like he was joking around. And he was right; Kaede had to take his feelings into consideration too, and so she chewed on the inside of her cheek as she looked down at him.

“Alright, well, you don’t have to completely work with us, but can you at least stop trying to drive a wedge between everyone? That’s exactly what the Mastermind—“ 

“ _Mastermind?_ ” Kokichi repeated in utter disbelief, looking up at her as if she had suddenly grown an extra head. “You _still_ think there’s a Mastermind among us, even after our amazing detective told us otherwise?”

“W-well, maybe not necessarily among us, but—“ 

“Why are you so desperate for a Mastermind, anyway?” Kokichi inquired further, a sudden darkness to his eyes as they narrowed ever so slightly in interest. 

Kaede looked away from him for a moment, opening and closing her mouth a few times like a fish as she thought of what to say, though he pressed on before she could respond.

“Are you soooooo desperate to push the blame onto a Mastermind? You think we can just kill the spooky, evil baddie making us do this, and then everything will all end, happily ever after?” He pushed further, and even though she was the one towering over him, she felt herself shrinking back at his words. 

“That would be nice, if it were true,” he agreed with a distant, melancholy look on his face. “but…how many _more_ of us do you plan to kill before you find your beloved Mastermind?”

The pianist rocked back then, losing her handle on the wall as she took a shaky step away from him. It felt like icy water had suddenly been dumped over her insides. 

“I-I’m not…” She croaked weakly, hating how defeated she sounded, and quickly went to clear it. “Mastermind or not, I don’t care! Saihara-kun said there wasn’t one among us, so I’ll believe in him!”

“Woow~ The power of love sure is amaazing~” Kokichi hummed, though his voice was monotone as he stared at her. “This has been fun, Akamatsu-chan, but I think it’s about time I skedaddle!”

“No, wait!” His words sent her into a panic, and once more she closed in on him, her palm flat against the wall once more.

He couldn’t go now. They hadn’t resolved anything! Sure, she understood that he _apparently_ wasn’t going to work with them because of his own beliefs on the system, but there was no way she could be satisfied with this.

“Hoo, boy! _Another_ Kabe-don, huh? Being Kabe-donned by Akamatsu-chan…what did I do to get this lucky?” the shorter boy said cheerfully, the serious air around him completely gone, as if it were never even there. “Though, this won’t be enough to trap me. If you reeaally want me to stay, you’ll have to do the rumored, elusive _Cicada Block_! If anybody can do it, it’s you, Akamatsu-chan!”

The pianist had no idea what he was talking about, and she stared down at him sternly with pursed lips. At his taunt of not being able to trap him, she raised her other arm as well, blocking him in from both sides in her desperate determination. 

“I still want to talk with you more, Ouma-kun!” she tried, though she could tell by his attitude that whatever conversation they had going was officially done. Still, she tried in vain.

“Ooh, blocking me in from both sides. Very bold, I wonder what our detective would say if he saw this!” Kokichi mused, probably trying to embarrass her, but little did he know she had already experienced something akin to this with the said detective earlier today. “You _really_ aren’t boring, you know that?”

Kaede wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, but having his approval in some regard must be good, right? Encouraged by that thought, Kaede tried to get through to him once more. 

“If you don’t hate me, why do you always make me look like a bad guy around the others?” she tried her best to ask it without sounding like she was accusing him, though the nature of the question probably couldn’t be heard any way _but_ accusatory. “I don’t deny what I did was wrong and horrible and you definitely have that right, but if you don’t hate me, then… _why_?”

“Didn’t I just say you were interesting?” Kokichi said blankly, as if that should answer all her questions. When Kaede just continued staring at him dumbly, however, he continued. “You’re most interesting when you do stuff like _this_ ,”

And the boy gestured to the situation they were in with a wave of his arms. Having it pointed out so blatantly caused her to look at the situation a bit more soberly, and despite her sudden embarrassment, she kept her arms on either side of him.

“So…you’re saying you put me in tough spots just…to see what I do? How I react?” Kaede asked slowly, unsure, and hoping that she was wrong. It was mean, cruel, unnecessary, and…

Exactly something Kokichi would do.

“Bingo!” he grinned, giving her an appraising look. “So, see? How could I possibly hate you, Akamatsu-chan, when you’re so fun? Now, as much as I’d like to hold hands and skip around since we’ve cleared that up, I _really_ must go.”

Despite his words, Kaede stayed in her position and he gave her an exasperated look.

“I SAAAAAID, I MUST GO!” He shouted in monotone, looking straight at her with a blank expression. “Akamatsu-chan, if you don’t want to be motorboated, you should probably move.”

“ _Wha—!_ ” the blonde choked out, her face suddenly beet red. It was true, he was the perfect height for it, but he _wouldn’t_ …

“Ouma-kun, stop messing around. Really, can’t we just—“

“3…”

“—Talk, genuinely, for a bit more? I want to know—“ 

“2…”

“—M-More about you, a-and…”

“1…”

Kaede tried to press on like normal, though her confidence in the fact that he wouldn’t do it was growing shakier by the second as his count drew nearer to zero. Still, she had already voiced her belief that he wouldn’t do it, so her stubbornness wouldn’t allow her to retreat.

“—and so I think if the two of us just…”

“zero!”

And with that carefree exclamation, Kokichi buried his face in her chest.

The mere shock of it rendered Kaede motionless, and all she did was stare, wide eyed and pale faced as the supreme leaders face became way too intimate with her bust. 

Finally thawing from her frozen state, Kaede sprung backwards before Kokichi could start moving around and really do what would be considered ‘motorboating.’

“Y-You…You _actually_ …!” was all she could say as she pointed a shaky finger at him, her face hot and clammy while the blonde hairs around her face stuck to her skin.

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Kokichi said, confused, as if that absolved him from guilt. “Would I ever lie to you?”

Before Kaede could point out the absurdity of his remark, he stepped around her quickly, though he didn’t have to bother with speed anymore—she was done dealing with him. There was no way she had the spirit to chase him _again_. Especially after he had nestled his face in her chest, and it would most likely lead nowhere, anyway.

“That was fun, Akamatsu-chan! Thanks for playing tag with meeeee!”

And with those words fading in the distance and the sound of light footsteps disappearing somewhere further into the school, Kaede was left alone, huffing and panting as her eyes swirled.

She wanted to have a serious talk with him…How had it come to this? He had made an absolute fool of her! Forget serious, he couldn’t have possibly taken her any _less_ seriously!

Still…it wasn’t all a waste. Despite that, even if it was by only 0.01%, Kaede thought maybe, _maybe_ she understood Kokichi a bit better now.

With that thought, the pianist steeled herself and inhaled a deep, much needed breath and turned around, slightly cheered up at that thought.

Though her mood immediately plummeted as she saw someone at the other end of the hallway. Someone who could have, and probably _did_ , see most of what just happened. Someone who must have left the gym right after Kaede and Kokichi, in order to stand guard in front of her lab once more.

Kaede’s eyes met with the red ones of the Ultimate Child Caregiver wordlessly, though the other girl quickly looked away.

“I didn’t see anything.”

* * *

“A-Akamatsu-san!” Shuichi called after the blonde as she chased Kokichi out of the gym, though his words didn’t reach her, and the slamming of the gym doors behind her promptly cut him off. 

The detective made a move to follow until somebody grabbed his arm, and he looked back to see Kaito shaking his head with a sigh.

“Let her go, man. If somebody can talk some sense into that brat, it’s Akamatsu,”

“Yes, I think so, too.” Keebo agreed, looking after the two seriously.

“Yeah, go Akamatsu-san! Beat ‘im up!” Tenko called after the pianist, though the gym doors were closed and Kaede was probably long gone and out of earshot by then.

“I guess you’re right…” Shuichi said uncertainly, though he still wasn’t quite convinced. He couldn’t imagine _anybody_ getting through to Kokichi. The most likely scenario—and the one he was was worried about—would be Kaede trying her best and pouring her heart out to him to try to work things out, only for Kokichi to stomp all over her earnest feelings with his typical laissez-fair attitude.

Still…If Kaede wanted to try, he had no right to stop her. And who knows, she may manage to get through to him. She did have a talent for that, after all. How much Shuichi had changed in the time he had known her was all the proof he needed.

That’s right…he should believe in her, not try to stop her from attempting to make things better.

With that thought, Shuichi turned away from the gym doors, though was surprised when something whizzed by him as soon as he turned around.

The Ultimate Child Caregiver was out of the gym in a flash, though nobody was under the impression that she was following after either Kokichi or Kaede out of concern. 

No—seeing the rare, almost frantic look on her face, it was clear she was rushing to her lab to make sure that they didn’t go in it while she left it unattended. 

Apparently that wasn’t as obvious for some people, however, and despite being the genius with the golden brain, Miu only grunted in confusion at Maki’s exit.

“The _fuck_ is her problem? They all going off to have a threesome or something?” the inventor asked, naturally putting an inappropriate spin on it. Shuichi only stared at her, though the annoyance he was feeling must have turned it into a glare, since she quickly recoiled when she met with his gaze.

Kaede was off doing her own thing, and that reminded Shuichi of something important that he hadn’t yet followed up on.

He turned away from a cowering Miu and made his way towards the Ultimate Cosplayer and the Ultimate Entomologist. 

“Hey, you two,” he greeted as he jogged up to them. “About the library investigation…Did you guys end up finding Amami-kun’s Monopad, or…?”

With the tumultuous events of the flashback light and Kaede and Kokichi’s altercation, he wasn’t surprised at the confused look they both gave him at first. Though it was just for a second, and soon the realization flashed in their eyes.

“Oh, right!” Tsumugi exclaimed, turning to look at Gonta quickly and then back to Shuichi. “We did find Amami-kun’s Monopad in the library…Right, Gonta-kun?”

“Yeah, Amami-kun’s Monopad was crammed in shelf with other books,” Gonta explained, “Shirogane-san find it and call Gonta over to see. Good that it was there, right?”

At their words, the detective put a hand on his chest and let out an exhale of relief. If it wasn’t there, then the idea of Rantaro committing suicide would have been pretty flimsy…meaning, how much faith would they have in the truth and integrity of Monokuma and the Class Trials?

But…It was there. Rantaro must have put it there, for some reason. Shuichi wished he could ask, wished he could have known what the other boy was thinking, but…Rantaro was gone, and Shuichi would never have those answers for certain.

Still, at the moment, this was the best case scenario, and the navy-haired boy gave the two a thankful smile. “Yes, Gonta-kun. That was very helpful, thank you.”

Though a thought occurred to him; if they _had_ found the Monopad, where was it now?

Before Shuichi could ask, Tsumugi was one step ahead of him, and put her finger to her cheek as she looked up in contemplation.

“Though…after we found the Monopad, Monokuma just suddenly appeared and took it from us. It was just plain weird, honestly…But, at least we confirmed it was there before he took it!” the cosplayer explained, trying to look on the bright side near the end there.

“Monokuma took it away?” Shuichi repeated, frowning as he thought. Would Monokuma do that for _all_ of the students, or was there something special about Rantaro’s Monopad that he didn’t want them to be able to investigate? Could it have something to do with the Ultimate Hunt, and why Rantaro knew about it?

Though, the only way to confirm if it was a special case for Rantaro or if it would happen to all of the students, was for there to be another murder…

And so, Shuichi decided to put a lid on that train of thought, and once again thanked the two of them for their information. It was able to put his mind at ease, if nothing else.

“Well, that was certainly a lot of information to take in,” Kirumi spoke up then, and with a smile and a tug of her gloves said, “Shall we go to the dining hall and enjoy a hot meal for dinner? Please, all of you tell me your favourite foods and beverages on the way.”

With just those words, the mood was immediately lifted as everyone looked forward to a nice meal and a full belly. The gym was bustling with foods and drinks being declared and Tenko yelling something about a hotpot as they made their way out. Shuichi wondered if—and how—Kirumi would even remember all of the information being thrown at her.

Not wanting to add on anymore stress, the detective decided to say nothing, since he was sure he would be more than fine with whatever Kirumi cooked up, and followed everybody out with a hint of a smile.

* * *

Despite the arduous day he and everyone else had, what with the investigation and the flashback light fiasco, everyone was still able to laugh and stuff themselves until they literally couldn’t eat anymore at dinner.

Though, maybe it wasn’t despite, but _because_ of the day they had that everybody was able to laugh twice as loud and eat just as much. 

Kaede had joined them a bit later, snagging a seat next to Shuichi at the table that he had not-so-subtly tried to save for her by putting his jacket beside him and claiming he was ‘just a bit hot’, though he couldn’t help but feel like everyone had seen through him. Or maybe he was just being self-conscious. 

Still, when she had sat down next to him and began to eat, he couldn’t quite get a read on her and how things went with Kokichi. When he tried to ask, she looked embarrassed, though he couldn’t even begin to wonder why. Though, he supposed it was better than depressed and crestfallen, like he had been worrying about.

Unsurprisingly, Kokichi and Maki both never came to dinner—Maki because she was holed up in her lab, no doubt. And Kokichi was most likely absent because he was trying to avoid Kaito, Kaede, or both of them. 

Shuichi had to admit, if Kaito and Kaede, two of the strongest personalities in their group, were mad at _him_ , he would also probably go into hiding. 

Kirumi assured them that their absence was a non-issue, for she’d bring food to their rooms before nighttime, though that didn’t take long. By the time everybody had finished eating, it was half an hour till night-time; the investigation and meeting they had in the gym had eaten up the entire day.

Shuichi was both surprised, and not. On one hand, the day had seemed to drag on forever, with how stressful the investigation had been, and the information dump from the flashback lights.

But on the other hand, it was hard to believe they had been investigating for almost the entire day. Still, he was glad to have gotten it over with, and would definitely be okay with the idea of not doing much of anything tomorrow.

After dinner, everyone said their goodbyes and goodnights as most decided to make their way to their rooms since it was almost night time. A few people—Kaede included—tried to help Kirumi clean up after eating, though the Ultimate Maid was not having it. She insisted everybody must be tired after the strenuous day of investigating and their memories partially returning.

Kaede had tried to argue that Kirumi had _also_ been through that very same day, but Kirumi had managed to win in the end by slyly taking advantage of Kaede’s emotional side, and claiming that she would feel like a failure as the Ultimate Maid if they didn’t allow her to do at least this much.

And so everybody had parted after that as they returned to their rooms, and almost immediately after Shuichi had entered his, he collapsed on the bed.

“I…should shower,” he mumbled to himself as he stared up at the ceiling blankly, eyes drifting over to his own personal bathroom.

The running, the sweating…It was probably a good idea.

But now that he was lying on his bed, belly full and eyelids drooping, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I guess…it wouldn’t hurt to do it in the morning,” he bargained with himself, and turned his head to the clock to see what time it was. Just as he turned his head to see the time, however, the night-time announcement came on.

The robotic voice of Monodam echoed throughout Shuichi’s otherwise quiet room, alerting him that it was 10’oclock, which he already knew.

Kicking off his shoes, the detective brought his legs up and turned on his side to get more comfortable, and kept his eyes open for a bit, enjoying the feeling of them getting heavy and urging him to sleep.

His vision began to blur from drowsiness, and his lashes came down to obscure his vision more and more…

…When a knock suddenly thumped against his door.

It wasn’t a loud knock; in fact, it was quite soft. It was still enough, however, to make him shoot up from his comfortable, horizontal position.

The person had been considerate enough to not use the much louder doorbell—probably in case he was already asleep—and so knocked quietly enough that he would only hear it if he happened to be awake.

He could only think of one person who was considerate enough to come to his room in such a way, and so he scrambled out of bed, hastily throwing the covers off of him as he made his way to the door.

When he opened it, the Ultimate Pianist was on the other side as he had expected, dimly illuminated only by the moon that poured in through the windows of the dorm. 

“Can…I come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gOD that Kokichi threatening-to-motorboat scene was one of the first scenes I thought of for this fic, so i'm glad i finally got to write it LOL Kokichi, you little shit. hes actually not MUCH shorter than kaede if you look up on a height comparison website, but him being about boob-height to her is how i see him in my minds eye LOL. 
> 
> Also, in the game setting, the next motive (kubs pads) are delivered the next morning, but man, F that shit. before we get to the next motive and sadness im gonna be focusing on the characters and classes and all that good, not sad stuff. spoiler for next chapter, first line kaede says will be "ey bby u want sum fuk?"


	6. Chapter 6

She couldn’t sleep.

Silly her—she had thought that maybe, just _maybe_ , due to the chaotic and exhausting day they’d all had, that perhaps sleep would take her without much of a fight tonight.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Kaede’s lavender eyes stayed affixed to the ceiling above her, looking over every detail and pattern that could be found, to the point where she figured she’d probably be able to draw it from memory if these sleepless nights kept up.

Frustrated, she threw the covers off of her, sitting upright in her bed as she stared at nothing now. Despite having the lights off, her eyes had been open wide for a while now and had therefore become used to the dark, allowing her to see around the room without much trouble.

_…Is Saihara-kun already asleep?_

The thought came to her unexpectedly, and she couldn’t help the momentary self-pity she felt at thinking it. Having nightmares, unable to sleep, and running off to sleep in Shuichi’s room? Really, how old was she again?

Not to mention she had already been relying on him too much. She knew that he’d been through the same exhausting day—though unlike her, he was probably fast asleep by now like anyone should be. There was also the fact that they’d already spent the entire day together, and so it was only natural to want time to yourself, especially at night, and so she would no doubt just be an annoyance.

Kaede continued on like this for a while in her head, thinking in circles as she tried to talk herself out of it, but the allure of finally getting a much needed night’s rest was too tempting. Even now, her eyelids were sagging, barely managing to be kept open, but she knew, in her cruel punishment, that as soon as she let her head rest on the pillow, she would be back to being wide awake and unable to sleep.

She had already experienced it before, after all; the effect that just being in Shuichi’s presence had on her. When she had been too scared to face everybody the next morning after the trial…just walking to the dining hall with the detective had calmed her anxiety and nerves, and so she knew she would be able to get a good night’s sleep in his company.

“Okay!” Kaede whisper-shouted, jumping up off her bed and quickly moving to the door before she could change her mind. Though despite her body’s best efforts at outrunning her thoughts, once she reached the door, she still paused; gripping the handle, but not making any move to turn it.

The pianist knew she was in her own head too much, as usual. But she also knew that Shuichi would let her in if she asked. And knowing that…just made her feel as if she was using him. Even if he didn’t actually want her to stay, he was too nice to say no, and the guilt made her second-guess herself. Annoying him in the middle of the night so that she could sleep, all the while knowing he wouldn’t say no to her, regardless of what he truly thought of the situation…it was horrible, no matter how you looked at it.

Kaede almost turned to retread back into her bed, when a sudden memory bubbled to the surface of her thoughts.

_If you’re horrible, so am I._

...Even in her memories, his voice had managed to jostle her out of the negative slump she was in, forcing her to calm down and think a bit more rationally.

Those were the words he had said to her after the trial…After Rantaro’s punishment. Not only that, she thought back to how desperately he had fought to save her. Would that same detective, who had tried so hard to be there for her and help her, really be upset at the fact that she was coming to him for help now?

She already knew the answer, and let the door to her dorm close softly behind her as she walked with newfound determination to his room.

Though naturally, the closer and closer she got to his door, the more and more her confidence whittled away.

To her credit, though, she still knocked…If you could even _call_ it a knock.

Her knuckles hit the door so quietly it was as if she didn’t want him to hear— _which actually was exactly her intention_ —therefore totally defeating the purpose of knocking in the first place.

Half of her hoped he would still manage to hear it, and the other half hoped nothing would happen so that she could return to her room.

Half of her hopes were dashed when she heard movement from inside his dorm. He _couldn’t_ have been sleeping in that case, right? There was no way she had woke him up, since she had knocked so quietly…

The door cracked open; slightly at first, and then all the way.

He wasn’t wearing his usual pinstripe jacket—he must have taken it off to sleep, revealing a white collared dress shirt similar to the one she was wearing under her own outerwear. It was strange to see him out of uniform, but she also couldn’t help but stare for a moment. 

Although there was a definite drowsiness to his face—not to mention his bed-head—he seemed wide awake; he must have just been falling asleep when she shocked him awake. She felt a bit bad at that thought, and half of her wished if _only_ she had come a few minutes later, when he had actually fallen asleep and wouldn’t have heard her knock…

..and the other half was relieved she managed to catch him in time before that happened.

She had so many things on her mind—he was owed an explanation for why she was coming to his room at night, for one. But as of right now, she instead asked a simpler question.

“Can…I come in?”

* * *

At her request, Shuichi completely opened the door, stepping aside to show her that she was welcome.

“Of…of _course!_ ” he said, putting a little too much force into his approval in an attempt to stop his stammering, which just made him sound a bit too desperate for her to come inside his room. He quickly closed his mouth after the words escaped, pursing his lips tightly in embarrassment.

If Kaede caught on, she didn’t show it—in fact, his over-the-top enthusiasm seemed to give her the push she needed to actually step inside his room; despite her being the one coming over, she herself looked as if she wanted to leave.

Shuichi waited for her to walk past him and into his room before closing the door softly behind her—though even the simple action of closing the door behind them was one he had to debate on in his head. Did it seem creepy? Should he have asked her first? With Kaede in his room at night, he was suddenly hyper-aware of all of his actions, and couldn’t help but over-think everything he was doing. _It was just closing a door, for God’s sake._

The moon had been illuminating his room, but as he began the apparently laborious process of shutting the door, it became apparent the room would soon be pitch black, and he quickly switched on the light to prevent that from happening before closing the door completely. After doing so, he turned to find Kaede awkwardly standing in the middle of his room, holding herself with each palm on either elbow as she looked around.

He was under no assumption that she had come to his room at night for any reason Miu might suggest, and just based off of how completely worn out she looked, he could guess why. 

“Can’t sleep?” he asked lightly in an attempt to lift the mood, but still couldn’t help the concern that laced his voice. Kaede, who seemed to be lost in her own head, looked at him then, and simply gave him one quiet nod. It was more of a conversation starter than an actual question—the dark circles under her eyes were answer enough, after all.

“Not since Amami-kun’s punishment,” she confessed, and Shuichi couldn’t help the troubled furrow of his brows.

“His punishment? Akamatsu-san, did…you watch it?” He thought he had managed to stop her, though he supposed it was possible she could have peeked up while he was watching it himself. He knew Kaede was too empathetic, and this was exactly what he was trying to avoid by keeping her from…

“No,” her sudden refute shocked him out of his train of thought. “But I wish I had.”

The detective walked further into the room and away from the door now, gesturing with a hand to the single person couch in his room, telling Kaede that she could sit if she wanted.

She did, though Shuichi remained standing, feeling a bit too awkward to go over and sit on his bed across from her.

“…Because…you still heard it,” he realized, voicing what Kaede would have said. She seemed surprised at his deduction for a split second, though her look of surprise was soon replaced with a smile, as if to say _’as expected from the Ultimate Detective.’_ The unspoken compliment floating in the silence between them made him shift his weight bashfully as he waited for her to continue.

“Yup, that’s right. At least if I had seen it for myself, I would only be plagued by one horror, y’know? But…” the arms that were holding herself tightened, and her fingers played with the fabric of her sleeves. “Whenever I close my eyes, my mind just makes up so many different scenarios to match the sounds that I heard. It must be from the guilt I feel—even my own subconscious is punishing me by showing me all these horrific possibilities of what could have happened to Amami-kun…”

She finished her sentence with a bitter smile, though her words grew shakier and her voice weaker as she continued to speak. It was clear this had been on her mind for a while, and finally voicing it was no doubt bringing the stress of the whole ordeal back. Shuichi’s first instinct was to comfort her—insist nothing _that_ bad happened, that it was just her mind being cruel to her, that in due time she would forget about it, and that as horrible as the punishment _sounded_ , Rantaro was already dead by that point, so he hadn’t actually suffered…

…Despite that being what he _wanted_ to say, however, he knew that wasn’t actually what she _needed_.

“Do you want to know what happened?”

Kaede looked up sharply, either because she hadn’t thought of that solution, or because she wasn’t expecting Shuichi to offer it so swiftly. She met his eyes quickly, though had just as quickly looked back down to the floor, as if she were ashamed. And timidly, she nodded.

“I…think that would be best. No matter how horrible it is, I need to know the truth, if only to selfishly put my mind at peace.”

The detective nodded, forgetting any prior awkwardness as he made his way over to the bed to sit down, placing his hands on his legs and gripping his knees as he explained.

He kept his eyes down the entire time he revealed the events of Rantaro’s punishment to her, trying to at least give Kaede the privacy to wince, cry, or show any other emotion she otherwise wouldn’t be comfortable letting out if he had been looking right at her. As he expected, her breathing hitched a few times here and there, but he pressed on for her sake, knowing she wouldn’t want him to stop and comfort her midway. 

After he finished, Shuichi looked up to finally meet her, and was surprised to see her staring straight ahead with dry eyes and a stern expression on her face.

Sensing him looking at her, whatever her eyes had been fixated on was no longer important, and her gaze snapped to his.

“Thank you for telling me, Saihara-kun,” she told him, and then looked down at her hands in her lap. “It’s true it was horrible, but…I’m glad I finally know. Now that I think about it, I remember you mentioning the title and bringing it up with Monokuma before… ‘ _Teachers pet_ ’…That, along with his execution…” 

In her eyes was now the expression he was more familiar with: determination, inquisitiveness, and optimism. “…Do you think it means anything? Do you have any ideas?”

Already, she was trying to put the newfound information to use; to use it in a way that could benefit all of them and help them escape this place. Shuichi couldn’t help the hint of a smile that tugged at his lips. “I do,” he admitted, and she immediately straightened up in anticipation for him to continue, though unfortunately for her, he never did.

“But for right now… It’s getting late. We can talk about it another time…okay?” he proposed, followed by giving her a knowing look. “You need to sleep.”

She laughed sheepishly at that, but didn’t fight it. Though her expression changed suddenly—where just moments ago she was once more motivated and determined just as he knew her, now she was back to how she had been acting when he had first opened the door to let her in. The Ultimate Pianist fidgeted with her sleeves, her eyebrows scrunched as if she were fighting herself over some issue.

“For tonight, do you…want to stay in my room?” Shuichi offered hesitantly, hoping he was reading her correctly and that she didn’t instead think he was asking her this for any... impure reasons.

Normally there would be no way in Hell he’d even be able to _think_ of asking her something like that in the first place, but due to her nightmares, the bags under her eyes, and the fact that she had come to his room and was now struggling to say something…If that was what she wanted and she just didn’t have it in her to ask, then he would just have to bite down on whatever embarrassment he felt and risk it, for her sake.

The chance that he _was_ actually dead wrong, however, was at the forefront of his mind as he waited for a response, and he was suddenly uncomfortably aware of how clammy his skin had become. Perhaps she would gasp in horror, ask how he could suggest such an indecent thing, and run off back to her room before slapping him.

Luckily for Shuichi though, this wasn’t a soap opera, and she instead looked up with wide eyes at his offer. 

“Is it really okay…?” She asked uncertainly, and at that question and the way she voiced it, it _really_ made him wonder how she viewed him. Of course it was okay—he couldn’t even fathom how she could possibly think it _wouldn’t_ be okay…though, he supposed it was good that he apparently wasn’t as transparent to her as he had thought he was. 

“Of course,” the detective reassured, getting off of his bed where he had been seated during their conversation. “Here, take my bed. I’ll sleep on the floor—”

Any meek apprehension in her expression and demeanor was immediately gone in a second as she stood up quickly to be at almost-eye level with him, back to her headstrong and stubborn ways.

“No way,” she immediately rejected, and the force of Kaede’s voice caused Shuichi to recoil nervously for a moment. “ _I’m_ the one intruding on _you_ , Saihara-kun. I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed as _well_.”

“But, you didn’t get any sleep the night before,” he reasoned, his voice a mix of scolding her and also assuring her that he _really didn’t mind_ , and to _please, for the love of God, take the bed_. “So you should at least get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

His words didn’t reach her, though, as he knew they wouldn’t. He could practically _see_ them bouncing and deflecting off of her as she continued to stare at him, hands on her hips, and a cute pout on her adamant face.

“No,” she reinforced once again, shutting him down with that simple word. “If you’re not going to sleep on your bed, then I’m going back to my room.”

Shuichi didn’t understand how this had become an ultimatum for _him_ , considering she was the one that needed sleep— though it was true he probably wanted her to get a good night’s sleep more than _she_ did at this point, and so he sighed with a sag of his shoulders, relenting for her as he knew he would.

“Alright, I’ll take the bed…But If you’re going to be sleeping on the floor, you need blankets…and I don’t know if our rooms have any extras…” as he pondered this, he looked around his entire room, the closet included. Though to be expected, there were still just duplicates of his uniform there and nothing else. If they wanted extra blankets and pillows, they would probably have to go to the warehouse.

It was already a bit too late to make that trek, though.

Realizing he had never really looked in there, Shuichi decided to check the nightstand next to his bed for no good reason; he knew there wouldn’t be anything like blankets or pillows inside, but it didn’t hurt to look anyway. He opened it slowly, peering down into it curiously…

…And immediately slammed it shut again.

The force with which he had thrust it shut caused Kaede to jump, and she looked over at him in annoyance, clearly startled. “Geez! What was that for?”

“A-ah, sorry,” he apologized quickly, looking over to her before nervously turning back to the nightstand. “This drawer gets stuck, so you have to close it with more force,” he explained, lying with surprising smoothness despite how flustered he was. 

Kaede simply accepted his explanation with a nod and no further prodding—as expected, since the topic was a boring and mundane one and nothing to be suspicious over in the first place…though he still kept his hand on the drawer, holding it shut just in case she came over to look.

“Then, I’ll be back, okay? I’m gonna go grab the blankets and pillows off of my bed,” Shuichi nodded as he watched her leave, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that. As soon as her figure disappeared behind his closed door, he whipped his head back to the drawer and pulled it open again, unable to stop the twitch in his eyebrow.

With their clear, square wrapping and circular object inside, at first glance a child might mistake them for lollipops.

But, they were…

…Unmistakably…

…Condoms. 

Upon seeing them, Shuichi’s mind was flooded with thoughts; thoughts mixing between him as a teenage boy, and him as the Ultimate Detective.

Why were they here? Had they always been here? This couldn’t have been the first time he had opened this drawer, and he _definitely_ would have noticed them, even at a glance. So why now? Did Monokuma or the cubs somehow know Kaede would be coming to his room tonight, and planted them to mess with him? Or did all of the boys’ rooms have condoms for whatever reason, and he really just never looked in here before?

Shuichi recalled a memory of Miu telling him and Kaede that ‘rubbers’ were available in the warehouse. If Miu had to clarify that they were in the warehouse, then that meant there really weren’t any in the girl’s rooms. But then that left the question: _were_ they in all of the boys rooms, or just, for whatever reason, _his_?

There was no way Shuichi could ask anybody about this—not even Kaito—and so the Ultimate Detective had no choice but to come to terms with the fact that this would probably be one mystery he would never solve, even despite being the Ultimate Detective, and he was okay with that.

After staring at them for a moment longer, he closed the drawer hastily, though now that he knew they were there, he couldn’t help the paranoia that began to set in. What if Kaede opened the drawer at one point in the night for whatever reason? Should he flush them down the toilet? It’s not like he would actually use them, especially not in this killing game situation they were in…

…Though, with his face as red as a tomato, Shuichi decided not to, reasoning with himself that it was because there would be a risk of clogging the toilet if he were to do so.

In any event, there was one thing both the Ultimate Detective and Shuichi Saihara could agree on, and that was, even if he wasn’t going to completely dispose of them, he at least needed to _hide_ them, on the off chance that Kaede opened that drawer.

And telling her not to open it, or trying to _stop_ her should she make a reach for that drawer would just be the end—if anything, it would make her even more curious. But where—

The sudden knock at his door nearly made Shuichi jump out of his skin even despite how soft it was, and he stood up quickly.

“C-coming!” he called out, opting to quickly take the pinstripe jacket he was no longer wearing, and shove it inside the drawer. At least now if she opened it, all she would see would be his uniform. And if that happened, he could decide what his false reasoning would be for why on earth he had thought stuffing his uniform in the drawer was a good idea when the time came. 

Shuichi quickly ran to his room’s bathroom before answering the door, splashing his face with cold water in an attempt to both calm himself down and get the redness of his cheeks to go away. It helped somewhat, and he hastily made his way to the door before Kaede had to wait any longer.

“Sorry for the wait, I was in the bathroom,” the detective hastily apologized as he swung open the door, about to ask if she needed help bringing any of the blankets from her room over to his, but the words got caught in his throat once he had actually let his eyes fall on her.

Attempting to return his red face back to its naturally pale shade had been a useless endeavor, as he could immediately feel his cheeks flare up once more.

Kaede was carrying the blankets and pillows from her bed like he had expected, though what he _hadn’t_ been expecting was her sudden…less-attired appearance.

Like him, she had discarded her outerwear so she was simply in her white blouse; no vest or tie. Without her usual sweater vest covering her, nor the tie that held up her collar, Shuichi immediately saw more neck than he was used to, and upon greeting her at the door, he reflexively turned his head to the left to prevent himself from staring.

Before Kaede could wonder what was up with the sudden whip of his head, the detective pointed in the direction he was looking in order to hopefully play it off. 

“A-ah…uh, you can put the blankets down over there,” he managed, stumbling over his words and hoping his eyes hadn’t lingered on her for as long as it had felt like. 

What she was wearing wasn’t even provocative or revealing in the slightest—at most, without her tie and the now-loose collar, he had maybe seen a little of her collarbone at most. It was just the sudden change and how unexpected it was that had completely thrown him for a loop more than anything, and now it was really beginning to set in that _Akamatsu-san is going to be sleeping in my room for the night._

Looking back to when she had first approached, he had no idea how he had managed to stay so calm.

Well, that wasn’t completely true…She was in distress and clearly anxious, and so seeing her like that had obviously put any thoughts other than helping her to the back burner.

But now that the issue had (for the most part) been resolved, he was left with the Kaede that he was familiar with…who would now be sleeping in his room all night.

“There we go!” Kaede huffed, dusting off her hands triumphantly as she finished her makeshift bed on the floor right next to his own real one.

Shuichi snapped out of his trance at her sudden exclamation, aware now that he had been zoning out the entire time she had been setting up her bed, and he immediately jolted in realization. “S-sorry! I should have helped…” He apologized, taking a step towards the blankets as if there were something he could still do.

She brushed him off though, waving with a smile. “It’s fine, it’s just laying down a few blankets. Besides, you looked pretty out of it…I guess we’re both tired,” the pianist smiled, unknowingly providing an excuse for him, and he nodded silently, suddenly feeling very guilty.

Shuichi thought he was different; he had actually kind of prided himself on how, compared to most teenage boys, he probably had a lot less… _off-colour_ thoughts.

It must have just been some law of the universe that when a teenage boy is in a dark room with a teenage girl, it didn’t really matter how polite or chivalrous you had always thought you were.

“We’re matching now, by the way,” Kaede informed the detective suddenly, holding out her white-sleeved arm next to his and smiling. “It _is_ annoying that they don’t provide us with pajamas automatically, just our same stupid uniforms over and over.”

“Yeah…” Shuichi agreed slowly as he pondered that, grateful for the new train of thought. It did seem like a huge oversight—or maybe it wasn’t an oversight, and Monokuma just really didn’t care about their nightly comfort.

…Probably that.

“There might be some in the warehouse,” the detective suggested, feeling it was a good bet just because of how much crap was in there, if nothing else. Then again, leave it to Monokuma to store shot-put balls and condoms in there, but not pajamas. “I mean, if there _are_ any, I’d wager they’d be there.”

“I hope so,” Kaede sighed, getting down onto the floor and crawling into her bed of blankets. “I can make do by taking off my vest, tie, and socks, but it’s still a dress shirt. Not to mention the skirt. I can’t wait to find a comfy pair of baggy sweatpants or something to wear to bed.”

At that, Shuichi couldn’t help but try to imagine Kaede in sweatpants. Pajama pants were one thing, but as far as sweatpants went…he would probably have to see it first. He knew it wasn’t by choice, but she wore a skirt every day, after all, so skirt to sweatpants would certainly be quite the jump. 

Though the idea of seeing her in different casual clothes or any other clothes other than the same old uniform did, admittedly, pique his interest a bit, and he couldn’t help his mind from wandering.

“Saihara-kun, are you planning to sleep, too?” Kaede, who was now snug as a bug in a rug with her blankets pulled up to her chin, asked sarcastically as she looked at him. Indeed, he realized he had still been standing by the foot of the bed ever since she had started making hers, and now that she was all tucked in and ready to sleep, he still hadn’t moved.

“Oh. Yeah.” he said lamely in his realization, and looked to her as he put his finger on the light switch. “Can I turn off the lights?”

At her noise of agreement he switched them off, getting into bed himself soon after.

Truthfully, he had been avoiding getting into bed, though obviously it wasn’t something that could be avoided forever. Kaede had made her nest of blankets closer to his bed than he had realized, and he had to enter his bed from the foot, since she was sleeping right beside it.

It felt a little awkward, knowing she was there and yet not being able to see her from his higher position; though if he _was_ able to see her, that would probably just be worse. At least with this, if they were both quiet, maybe he could calm down enough and try to forget the fact that she was right there and hopefully get some sleep tonight. 

Shuichi settled into bed for the second time that night, thankful that the cracks of the doors allowed some of the moonlight from outside to seep into his room, so that it wasn’t completely pitch black.

“Ugh…this is so nice,” Kaede groaned from her spot on the floor, and Shuichi couldn’t help the amused smile that appeared on his face from her tone. “The feeling of my eyelids getting heavy and actually _knowing_ I’ll be able to fall asleep…Thanks for letting me stay here tonight.”

“Of course,” Shuichi said immediately, and once again any awkwardness he was feeling was swept away by the more serious tone of her voice. “Any time you’re scared, or feel uncomfortable, Akamatsu-san, you can—“

“I know,” she acknowledged gently, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “So thank you. It really is crazy how different this is…In my own room as soon as I would lie down, I couldn’t close my eyes. I would start shaking, have intrusive thoughts… But now…”

As if to emphasize what she was feeling, the navy haired boy heard her wriggle around in her cocoon of blankets. “I feel so relaxed…I wonder if it’s just having another person nearby that calms me down, or if it’s because it’s you, Saihara-kun,”

Shuichi gripped the blankets at his side at her words, _also_ curious about that. It’s true it would be nice to be the special exception, though in the end, it didn’t really matter. Even if she could feel relaxed like this and trust others enough to also go to them like this at some point or another, the fact that he would at least be included in that list was more than he could ask for.

“I’m…glad I can help you, Akamatsu-san. I already can’t do much, so…even if it’s something as simple as just being next to you, if that’s what you need, then you can come to me anytime.” he told her quietly, eyes trained to the ceiling as he spoke. Something about being in the dark and not being able to see her directly made it easier for him to speak his mind and tell her how he felt. “I’m glad that you trust me enough.”

Kaede didn’t respond right away—in fact, she paused for long enough that he had started to wonder if she’d fallen asleep, and couldn’t decide if he was disappointed she may have not heard his words, or relieved.

“Of course I trust you…” She mumbled, and based off of the tone in which she said it, it was clear she had omitted a ‘stupid’ at the end there. “After everything we’ve been through, how can you even question that…? I feel way safer here than I did alone in my room…Uh, but, don’t think that I’m used to this kind of thing, okay?”

He wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘this kind of thing’, and she had clearly picked up on his confusion.

“I mean going into guys rooms—let alone sleeping in them. Geez…” Kaede mumbled—almost slurred—embarrassed that he had actually made her _say_ it. “But Saihara-kun, you’re the first, okay? You’re different…I know I can trust you.”

And here they were again: the conflicting emotions and thoughts that were in turmoil within him.

On the one hand, of course he was happy that she trusted him. She’d made it clear at this point that he would be the first person she would go to in most situations, and trusted him enough that she would even go to him in the dead of night to sleep in his room and to alleviate her fears. Shuichi probably wouldn’t be able to express how happy that made him even if he tried.

Though he couldn’t help or deny the tiny, insignificant, petty little part of him that couldn’t help but sulk a little bit. Not the Ultimate Detective, who was happy that the Ultimate Pianist had also managed to trust him in this hellish killing game…

No, it was Shuichi Saihara who was conflicted, unsure whether to be happy that Kaede trusted him to such an extreme, or to be a little bit hung up on the fact that she may not view him as a guy.

The navy haired boy shook his head, though, realizing how stupid he was being. Of course having her trust was more important, and he already knew that if she _didn’t_ trust him enough to come to his room at night, that would also hurt him…so in the end, he wasn’t really sure what it was that he wanted.

“Well, on the topic of never having gone into a guys room,” Shuichi started, realizing he had been lost in his thoughts once again. “I’ve… never had a girl in my room either… unless you count family members?”

Kaede laughed at that, and the sound caused him to smile a bit in triumph.

“Oh, that’s right; you took Valentine’s chocolate as a form of payment for your first case as a detective, right?” She recalled, and he blushed, nodding bashfully, though remembered she couldn’t see him and let out a reluctant ‘ _yes._ ’

The connection she was drawing was clear: obviously the shy boy who had accepted chocolate from a girl as payment clearly wouldn't have the experience with girls to have had one in his room at some point.

She didn’t bring that up, however, apparently more interested in something else.

“Were they Honmei or Giri?” Kaede asked suddenly.

“Uh, what?”

“The chocolates she gave you for Valentines. Did they actually have feelings behind them, or were they obligation?”

“They were…” He started, trying his best to dig up the specifics of the memory at Kaede’s suddenly insistent tone. “I mean…We never really spoke again after that, and it _was_ just payment for a job, so obligation, I guess…?”

He answered, but the girl sort-of next to him didn’t respond, though he heard her hum as she thought.

“That’s no good, Saihara-kun.” The pianist said abruptly, the bluntness of her statement throwing him off for a moment.

“…What isn’t?” The detective asked warily, confident she would tell him anyway even if he didn’t ask.

“You shouldn’t take things like that as payment, you know…I can’t help but feel like that girl realized you’re a bit shy and decided to take advantage of you.” Even though he couldn’t see Kaede, he wouldn’t be surprised if she had her index finger pointed in the air as she explained herself to him. “Girls can be sneaky like that sometimes.”

Before Shuichi could formulate a reply to that, she was suddenly sitting up, and the abrupt appearance of her head appearing beside him almost gave him a heart attack. Luckily he managed to bite back the surprised noise he almost made, and Kaede turned to look at him as if she were on a mission.

“It’s like this,” she started, and was suddenly leaning forward a bit on the edge of his bed, touching his arm lightly as she did so. At this point, obviously Shuichi was no longer lying down, but was in an awkward, rigid half-sitting up position and frozen in place as he looked at her.

“Haha, Saihara-kun, you’re so funny~” she giggled in a much higher, sweeter voice than he was used to, though just as soon as it had started, her face was back to being stern and her tone serious as she continued to lecture him.

“They’ll do stuff like that, where they make their voice higher, laugh at everything you say, and casually touch you like this,” and apparently satisfied at having proven her point, she removed her hand from his sleeve and her head soon disappeared back down to her pillow on the floor. 

“Y-yeah, I’ll be careful from now on…” he unconvincingly assured her, letting his form once again relax as his head hit his own pillow once more. He wasn’t sure if he was really being taken advantage of in the memory he had told her—he hadn’t really been expecting payment in the first place, after all, and the chocolates were just an added bonus in his mind. 

Though, it was ironic that the one lecturing him on how to not be taken advantage of was the one who could do so the most easily. She could probably just pay him in smiles and he’d do any job.

However, the whole conversation about chocolates and Valentine’s day was the perfect opportunity for him to ask what he’d been wondering here and there for a while now, and luckily she was the one who had brought it up in the first place.

Had _she_ ever made Valentine’s day chocolates for anyone?

…Was what he wanted to say, but the more he thought about it, even if it did seem like a natural flow of the conversation, he couldn’t bring himself to ask. She’d probably see right through him—is there any other reason in asking, really, besides wanting to know if that person had ever confessed, or had a boyfriend or girlfriend before?

Shuichi wasn’t confident enough in his own abilities to play it off as if he were just a bit curious for no reason, and so he decided to just drop i—

“By the way, I’ve never given anybody chocolates before. Honmei or Giri,” Kaede informed suddenly by her own volition, as if reading his thoughts. She blurted it so hastily that he had almost missed what she had said at first. Did she realize he had wanted to ask, and that was why she was suddenly telling him this…? Or was there another reason?

The idea that he was so see-through was embarrassing, but he pressed on.

“Really? I’m a little surprised…” Shuichi confessed, though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t also a little bit relieved. “Akamatsu-san, you’re the type that seems like you’re always surrounded by people, so…”

“Well, I’ve had crushes just like everyone else,” she clarified. “But I’ve never felt so strongly that I've wanted to give anyone chocolates. Plus, I was always so busy with the piano…So I’ve obviously also never had a boyfriend.”

Shuichi was about to say he’d never dated either, though decided that was probably already pretty obvious by this point, so remained silent. That silence was apparently damning to the Ultimate Pianist, however, and she didn’t let it slide.

“…Eh? Saihara-kun, have _you?_ Could it be I misunderstood, and you were actually really popular this whole time? You do have a cute face, so I’d understand, but…”

“W-what? No!” He quickly protested, wondering why he was so defensive at the prospect of being popular—though, part of his discomposed reaction was probably due to the surprise of hearing her call him cute. “The only time girls ever really paid attention to me was when they would compliment my eyelashes, or tell me how jealous they were of them…”

Kaede laughed at that, admitting that was the first thing she had noticed about him upon meeting for the first time, and then they were both laughing; they weren’t able to see one another, but were comforted nonetheless by the sounds of each other’s laughter alone.

The pianist’s laughter was cut short by the yawn that interrupted it, and Shuichi turned to look at the clock, squinting to read the numbers.

“It’s already 12:30…We should go to bed now,” Shuichi informed, turning his head back to rest comfortably on his pillow. “You came here to get a good night’s sleep, so it’ll defeat the purpose if we talk all night.”

He had been expecting a half-hearted rebuttal, but it truly was a testament to how tired Kaede was when she didn’t even bother to reply in words, but instead hummed a sleepy noise of agreement. 

“Good night,” He said softly.

There was no spoken response, and Shuichi simply listened to the sound of her quiet breathing, becoming slower and slower as she fell deeper into sleep.

Hearing her small breaths and her occasional movement or rustling of the sheets beside him made his heart squeeze, and he came to the decision that being trusted like this was definitely better than any alternative he had been sulking about, and the fact that she was willing to expose such a vulnerable side to him made the detective even more determined to do his best to protect her in the future.

With these sorts of thoughts drifting through his mind, he eventually began to feel his consciousness slip away from him as well.

* * *

“ _Uwah!_ ” the navy haired boy sat up quickly in his bed, aware he had been startled awake by _something_ , though not sure exactly _what_ that something was.

His first instinct was to look at the clock, though being bleary eyed from having just woken up, he had to rub and blink his eyes a few times before his sight focused enough to the point where he could actually read the time.

**3:27am.**

Obviously it hadn’t been the morning announcements that had woke him up. Was he having a nightmare, and he just couldn’t remember? Usually when he woke up from a nightmare his skin was clammy and his heart was racing, but none of those signs were apparent on him.

Deciding to check up on her, Shuichi leaned over a bit in order to peer down at Kaede who was still fast asleep despite his outburst.

Well, ‘fast’ asleep may not have been the right word.

Upon watching her for a few moments, it soon became clear what, exactly, had woke him up.

The blonde had all but thrown the blankets off of her as she thrashed about in her sleep, making noises ranging from whimpers to strangled exclamations of pain. Something she had done must have woken him, and all the detective could do was look down at her helplessly as she no doubt fought off whatever tormented her sleep.

She had been able to fall asleep with ease in his company, but her subconscious had other plans when it came to actually being asleep, it seemed. Shuichi had hoped that by telling her the truth of what Rantaro’s punishment was, she would no longer be plagued by nightmares—though he supposed now she could have been having nightmares about what _really_ happened.

Shuichi wasn’t sure what to do as he looked down at her, though he at least knew he couldn’t leave her like this.

“Akamatsu-san…” He whispered pathetically, his voice not completely coming to him considering he had just woken up. Before he really knew what he was doing, he slipped out of bed, walking around her and kneeling next to her side.

Should he wake her up? That would probably be for the best; if he woke her up, at the very least it would disturb the dream and she could fall back asleep once more. It wasn’t a permanent solution to her night terrors, but as a temporary one, it was all he could think to do right now.

Although he felt guilty at the prospect of waking her up—especially since she had had so much trouble falling asleep the past few days—Shuichi had to remind himself that even though she was technically sleeping right now, it was clear she wasn’t getting any rest.

“Akamatsu-san,” he repeated again softly, his voice returning to him a little bit more. “Akamatsu-san…”

She shifted, though didn’t wake up. Softly saying her name probably wasn’t going to do the job, but he didn’t have it in him to start yelling, or shake her awake for that matter.

His voice may have not woken her, but as he looked at her once more, he realized the furrow to her brows was gone, and the almost pained expression was now replaced by a more peaceful one. Despite being unconscious, did his voice reach her? Did she know he was there…?

Shuichi allowed himself to admire her now calm sleeping face for a few extra moments, before he carefully stood up and made his way back to his bed.

Or at least, he was _about_ to stand up and go back to his bed, when something suddenly stopped him. Not something, some _one_.

As if she really had sensed Shuichi, or at least another person’s warmth in general, the still unconscious Kaede had reached out for him in her sleep, grabbing onto his arm. Her grip wasn’t painful, but was tight enough to crumple the fabric of his shirt.

… _Now what?_

It would be cruel to pry her fingers off and hop back into bed, especially if his presence beside her was the only thing keeping her from her night terrors. 

…

It didn’t take the Ultimate Detective long to come to a decision, and, carefully reaching over her while still remaining in her grip, he ripped the blankets off of his bed and brought them to the floor beside where Kaede slept, also reaching back over her to grab his pillow.

…What was he doing? He wasn’t sure how Kaede would react in the morning to seeing him suddenly lying next to her, and even with his reasoning, was this even a good idea? She had already stopped thrashing, and even if she started again, the normal thing to do would be to wake her up.

Still, looking at her face which was suddenly so tranquil and feeling her clutch onto his arm as if she were scared he would pull away…he couldn’t bring himself to leave her, even if it was just for his own selfishness.

The boy plopped the pillow down next to her, and although he struggled to set the blankets beneath him while also having his arm still held by the girl next to him, he eventually managed and lied down, though his eyes were still wide open.

And to think, he had thought that sleeping would be difficult since Kaede was in his room and on the floor next to his bed…Now, it would just be straight up _impossible_ , with her literally _right_ beside him. 

Still, if he had to sacrifice a night of his own sleep in exchange for hers, he’d gladly do so.

It might have been a futile attempt, but Shuichi still closed his eyes nonetheless, figuring he may as well _try_ to sleep. Though with his sight gone, his senses became hyper-fixated on her breathing right beside him—not to mention the hand that was still holding onto him.

… _Welp, so much for that._

He glanced at her, feeling her start to stir, and for a moment he thought she was about to let go; part of him had hoped she would let go and turn her back to him as she slept so he could do the same. But no; to his panic, Kaede instead began moving _closer_ to him. It seemed he was right—she had definitely sensed another person there, another warm body, and even her unconscious self was taking comfort in that warmth.

Shuichi stayed perfectly still as the blonde inched closer and closer, until she was completely curled up against him, his arm no longer simply being grabbed by her hand, but now being fully enveloped by both of her arms as she hugged it. His heart hammered in his chest as he desperately tried not to focus too much on the soft, squishy sensation pressed against him.

He wasn’t sure if he was making a conscious effort to not move, or if he really was just frozen in place and wouldn’t be able to move even if he were to try. It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say he felt as if he was going to have a heart attack, and he really had no idea how he would be able to endure this for the entire night if it kept up. His heart would probably fail him before morning.

Kaede would wake up to find him dead next to her, while the entire class would debate how exactly he had died in the Class Trial.

Imagining such a ridiculous scenario was enough to distract him long enough to at least allow some respite for his thrumming heart, though as fate would have it, Kaede adjusted once more.

Whereas before, she had been hugging his arm with her forehead pressed into his shoulder, she had now repositioned her head so that it was tilted up more, and now he could feel her breath on his neck— _just_ what he needed.

Shuichi couldn’t help but let out a small, agonized little moan. Or was it a whimper? He really did feel sorry for himself. For distraction, he had resorted to counting cracks in the ceiling, doing math equations, and even reminding himself he was in a _killing game_ , though nothing worked.

With his mind racing with all sorts of thoughts, along too came the more stupid ones. Had Monokuma somehow hijacked Kaede? Was this all a big prank, and there were cameras everywhere? Was this the real Kaede, or maybe a robot? Was the real Kaede actually in her room fast asleep right now, whereas this one was being controlled by Monokuma just to torture him for an entire night, and test his self-discipline?

Obviously Shuichi knew that wasn’t true, but he couldn’t help but humour the idea—he had nothing better to think about, anyway, since he was going to be awake the entire night after all.

“…Shuichi.”

…

_…What??_

It took him a millisecond to register what he had just heard— _and felt_ , considering her breath was still on his neck—and despite how hot he was, It felt as if his blood had run cold. His heart had somehow both stopped, and was also beating faster than ever.

Mind racing, the Ultimate Detective officially checked out for the night.

Shuichi Saihara, on the other hand, could practically feel his eyes swirling as his mind apparently discovered the secret to light speed travel.

She had said his name—his _first_ name—for the first time, in such a scenario; a scenario where the two were alone, in his room, at night, in the dark, while cuddled next to each other. 

Had she woken up, taken a look at the situation they were in, and decided that _now_ would be a good time to call him Shuichi for the first time? If so, apparently she intended to kill him.

What reason could there be for calling him by his first name while they were in such a position?

Against his will, his mind automatically thought back to the condoms in the drawer behind him, though he quickly banished the thought… though not before breaking into a cold sweat that was all the more noticeable on his burning skin. Was she trying to tell him something…? Did she…

She interrupted his thoughts once more, however, and before he had come to a conclusion on how to respond and deal with the situation, she let out a sleepy noise, and suddenly released his arm from her hug, turning in her sleep.

_…In her sleep._

…Kaede had been sleeping.

Immediately Shuichi raised his right arm, pressing his fingers into his shut eyes until it was almost painful, resisting the urge to groan.

Of _course_ she had been sleep-talking, how hadn’t he thought of that in the first place? His deductive reasoning had really been failing him tonight, though he was relieved he had at least found out before he’d decided to do or say anything embarrassing.

Well, he had gotten his original wish; although Kaede had only turned to be on her back and not completely facing away from him, her head at least was turned in the opposite direction from him. She was also no longer hugging his arm, her hand instead returning to how it was originally, simply grabbing his sleeve.

Compared to what he had been through, this contact now felt like nothing, and having been so rigidly strung up into a bundle of nerves before, now that he allowed himself to relax, he was suddenly doubly exhausted. 

Though his mind couldn’t help but still wander. She had called him Shuichi in her dreams. Was she just less formal in her dreams, or maybe her unconscious self had recognized she was close to him in real life, and just didn’t think to call him by last name and include honorifics? Or…was she having a dream where it would be normal to call him by his first name?

_…Why are you doing this to yourself?_ He bitterly thought to himself; she had finally let go of him and he was starting to calm down, so why was he thinking about things that would only make his heart race all over again?

The navy haired boy quickly shut his eyes, his lips pursed in forced determination. He needed to fall asleep before she did something like that again. He was suddenly thankful for the hectic day he had, since without it, there was no way he’d be able to fall asleep under these circumstances.

But, he did.

* * *

Her senses had returned to her before her consciousness fully did, but she savored what she felt: the feeling of being well-rested, of having that crust in your eyes that comes after a good night’s sleep, the slight drool on her cheek…

Not to mention the outward things she could feel: a warmth, not just from blankets, but warmth that was richer and deeper than that. The smells, as well; a familiar scent of soap—not the strawberry soap that her own shower had been supplied with—but more of a crisp, cologne scent, mixed in with the natural scent that had already become so familiar to her…

It was comforting enough that in the split second her consciousness had flickered enough for her to discern these scents and feelings, she had nearly fallen right back asleep again.

Her unconscious mind had recognized it immediately: she was with Shuichi. Her subconscious had already put the pieces in place for her, from his smell to his warmth.

The rapidly growing _conscious_ part of her, however, who instead came _slowly_ to the realization that she was beside Shuichi…didn’t exactly take the same comfort in it.

Kaede’s eyes flew open, and sure enough, familiar navy hair was at the top of her vision, though her eyes were instantly met with the white fabric of his shirt. It took everything in her to not immediately spring up, and instead take a moment to assess the position she was in.

Her arm was draped over something, the way she usually slept—though the boy she was clinging onto was usually a _pillow_ and not, well…a _boy_.

Her head was also pressed right into his arm as she practically hugged him in her sleep, and the more she assessed their positions, the more mortified she became.

But, before all of that…Why was Shuichi on the floor with her in the first place? The last thing she remembered was them talking, with her on the floor and him on the bed, and then she fell asleep.

Either way, the idea that Shuichi had taken advantage of the situation and had come to sleep on the floor with her for any unsavory reasons was immediately out the window, and so the Ultimate Pianist frowned as she thought of the _actual_ possibilities.

It didn’t take her long to figure out what must have happened, especially when she recalled her dreams that night—at one point, she had been having nightmares, but then...they just _stopped_. Although she didn’t remember what she had dreamt about after they had vanished, the fact remained that they _had_ vanished nonetheless.

Shuichi must have come to comfort her in the night when she was having nightmares, and his presence was most likely the thing that put an end to them. He probably stayed on the floor with her to help calm her down, and ended up falling asleep next to her. 

As for why she was clinging to him…well, that was her fault, not his.

Taking advantage of this rare occasion to be so close to him—especially without him shyly recoiling away from her—Kaede sneakily looked up at his face, both admiring it and checking to see if he was awake. He really was beautiful, by male _and_ female standards. With his long lashes, soft feminine features, and reserved personality…Hell, he was cuter than she was. He probably wouldn’t take that as a compliment, despite how earnestly she meant it, so Kaede decided she’d probably just keep that to herself.

As she continued to look at him, a voice suddenly rang out and she flinched in shock, feeling as if she had been caught staring. However, it ended up just being the morning announcement, and Kaede scrambled up and away from Shuichi as she listened to each of the bears’ respective, annoying voices.

The announcement seemed to stir Shuichi, and he frowned in his sleep as his consciousness began to return to him. The pianist watched, trying not to laugh just because of how cute he looked.

The lights in the room were still off, but with the morning sun peeking through the cracks in the door it was light enough to see without much trouble, and also not too bright as to be harsh on the eyes upon waking.

The boy beside her rubbed at his eyes, frowning as he curiously blinked multiple times at his surroundings in the dim room. At that, Kaede couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore.

“Good morning,” she said simply, smiling down at him.

He wasn’t fully conscious, staring blankly up at the ceiling though clearly not actually _seeing_ what was there. But he responded nonetheless.

“Morning…” He croaked out hoarsely, his voice startling Kaede for a moment. Obviously she’d never heard him upon _just_ waking up, and it was so much more husky and deep than she was used to. She felt sudden warmth in her cheeks, aware that she was probably blushing.

“Ah…yeah, morning…” She said again in her sudden flustered state without thinking, despite having already said it.

The boy detective didn’t notice, however, since he had a much more laborious task to tackle—waking up. Kaede continued to watch him in amused fascination as he slowly raised himself off of the floor.

He was sitting up now, hunched over with his hands in his lap, though his eyes were closed once again. His navy blue hair was tousled and sticking out in various directions, and as he yawned he reached up to scratch at his head.

Kaede hadn’t thought Shuichi was the type to have such trouble waking up in the morning, but clearly that was the case.

…Though upon looking closer at him, she suddenly realized the dark purple circles, almost like bruises, that were beneath his eyes.

…Had he not gotten any sleep because of her?

Perhaps her nightmares had lasted longer than she had thought, and he was kept awake by _whatever_ she had done in her sleep due to them. Even though she remembered them being quite short, apparently (or so she had heard once) even the shortest seeming dreams actually last the entire night.

“…Did I keep you up?” Kaede asked softly, the guilt clearly present in her voice despite her best efforts. She smiled after that, knowing that Shuichi would just lie and say no in order to spare her feelings.

“…It’s okay,” he mumbled simply, rubbing his eyes once more like a little kid.

She could only laugh. “Guess that’s a _yes_. Sorry.”

Apparently her being sad—God forbid—was the fastest way to wake up the Ultimate Detective, for the haze seemed to clear out of his eyes at her tone, and after blinking one more time, it was as if everything around him was suddenly coming into focus for the first time since he had opened his eyes. 

“Well…you had nightmares last night,” he told her, confirming her suspicions, and she nodded quietly. “I went over to check on you, but then you grabbed me, so I decided to stay on the floor with you…I…didn’t want to invade your privacy like that, but I—well…sorry, If I shouldn’t have done that.”

Kaede put her face in her hands in embarrassment, mortified at this new information. So not only had she cuddled up against him during the night (though thankfully he had been unconscious for that), it hadn’t even _been_ his choice to sleep on the floor with her in the first place, and he only stayed because he was too nice to shake her off.

…At least she had woken up before him, so he’d never have to know about that first part.

“Don’t be sorry. I _was_ a little surprised after I woke up, but as soon as I saw you, I knew you must have been on the floor with me for a reason,” the pianist informed, though quickly changed her expression to a sour one. “Saihara-kun, you should have just shoved me away and gone back to bed…now _you’re_ the one that got no sleep.”

“...I couldn't just leave you. Your nightmares stopped because I stayed. Really, it wasn’t you that kept me awake, Akamatsu-san. Don’t worry about it,” he assured her strongly—or as strong as he could, considering his voice hadn’t quite regained its full force, and he still had a slightly vacant, comatose look about him.

..So if it wasn’t her thrashing that had kept him awake, it was the fact that he had to sleep on the floor? Either way, all signs pointed to it being her fault, but she decided not to press it anymore, since it was clear they weren’t going to see eye to eye on this. 

After all, the Ultimate Pianist realized there was a much more pressing matter at the moment.

“Crap…” she muttered, getting up from her place on the floor and going over to the front door.

Rubbing the final bits of sleep out of his eyes and regaining most of his awareness, Shuichi also stood up after her. “What is it?”

“The morning announcement just went off and we always meet in the dining hall. Geez, why don’t these doors have peepholes?” Kaede complained with a groan.

She was sure Shuichi would catch on without her having to say it—even in his sleepy, almost delirious state. She needed to leave his room. _Without_ being seen.

And _especially_ not by Miu or Kokichi, for the love of God.

Realizing her dilemma as she knew he would, Shuichi made a noise of realization, and then frowned as he thought. “Well…I could open the door first and look out to make sure nobody‘s there, and then you can make your way to your room?”

She nodded, though couldn’t help but still feel worried someone might see her or be hidden in an area where Shuichi’s eyes wouldn’t be able to see from his door. Her room was right across from his, however, so as long as she ran she should be fine.

Still, the idea of someone even catching the slightest glimpse of her…Even the thought was enough to mortify her, despite the fact that it could all be explained. She was suddenly kicking herself for shedding her vest, socks, and tie in her own room now, since if someone _did_ spot her, she’d be much less clothed than they’d be used to her being.

Nonetheless, she agreed. “Alright…I’ll come back for my blankets later, okay?” 

Shuichi nodded as he cracked open the door, peered out for a bit, and then turned back to her, signaling it was clear. 

He didn’t have to tell her twice.

Kaede was out the door in a flash, running so fast she heard the detective make a noise of surprise as she took off. 

As soon as she was within arm’s reach of her door, she yanked it open, hastily getting behind it as cover, though kept it open a touch in order to look at Shuichi. He was still looking at her from his own gap in the door, and she gave a thumbs-up before the two of them disappeared into their respective rooms.

Alright, time for a shower.

* * *

He stepped out of his much needed shower, shaking his head like a dog before properly drying it with a towel.

Shuichi had been paranoid the night before of smelling bad, since he hadn’t had a shower before Kaede was suddenly snuggling up against him, though her unconscious self didn’t seem to mind.

As he expected, she didn’t seem to remember any of what happened, and that was fine with him. But after the day of running away from Miu, and being cuddled with by Kaede…he had probably sweat more yesterday than his entire life combined, and breathed a sigh of relief at the feeling of being _clean_ once again.

He hadn’t realized it because he’d been in his room the entire night, but after sectioning himself off to the bathroom, washing himself, and coming back out into the main area of his room…he noticed it smelled better than usual.

Almost…like strawberries?

He couldn’t help the slight blush that crept to his cheeks as he wondered if it was perhaps because of Kaede, and in order to confirm his suspicions, he picked up the shirt he had been wearing last night, giving it a whiff.

As expected, the side where Kaede had been pressed up against him had that very same smell, and the realization just made him embarrassed all over again, and he threw the shirt back to the floor with pursed lips.

It wasn’t altogether a bad thing, though; if not for that reminder that she actually _had_ , in fact, been here, he probably could have chalked up last night to a dream.

Slipping on a fresh new uniform from his never ending closet supply, the detective remembered the article of clothing he had shoved into his drawer, and went to retrieve it to put it with the rest of his dirty clothes. As he lifted it, however, he frowned when he realized there was nothing underneath it.

No condoms, as if last night really _had_ been a dream. Then, Monokuma or the cubs really _did_ …

No. You know what? Whatever. He wasn’t going to think about it any longer, if only to preserve whatever traces of his sanity he still had left.

Once he was dressed and ready to go, he left his dorm, opting to head straight to the dining hall to meet everyone else for breakfast.

* * *

Kaede wasn’t there when he arrived, but there were a few other people who were missing, as well. Shuichi wasn’t exactly surprised to see that the pianist was absent, since he figured she also probably had to shower, and girls tended to take longer than boys.

As expected though, Kirumi was already there and serving breakfast to those who had sat at the table.

“Yo, Saihara!” the ever-cheerful voice of Kaito called out to him, patting the seat next to him as Kirumi set down a plate of food in front of the astronaut. “Come eat!”

Smiling, Shuichi made his way over to the boy, sitting beside him and receiving his own plate of food from Kirumi—it seemed she had already remembered and discerned what he had liked and what his tastes were, and he began immediately, not realizing how hungry he was until his first bite.

Breakfast continued this way as everyone else eventually trickled in; Kaede, Korekiyo, Angie, and lastly Kokichi—though Maki was still, unsurprisingly, absent. The detective was slightly taken aback at Kokichi’s presence, surprised by how easily he showed himself and sat down to eat with all of them despite being threatened by Kaito and chased by Kaede just the day before.

The supreme leader was easy going as always, if not a little _more_ so, as if to rub it in. Kaito didn’t respond to the other boys presence, though in the astronauts case, it was more likely because he had simply already forgotten about the past days transgressions and argument.

Kaede, however, was making it a point not to look at him. That in itself was also strange…Shuichi had expected her to continue hounding him, though maybe she wasn’t consciously ignoring him, but just, like Kaito, had already moved past it?

…Either way, it was too early to think about these things, and if something happened, he’d just have to wait until when and if Kaede felt like telling him.

As he scarfed down his food, the detective nearly dropped his chopsticks when the boy beside him elbowed him in the arm. “Ah!” the detective yelped, managing to save the food that almost fell onto the floor. “What is it, Momota-kun?”

“You and Akamatsu aren’t fighting, are you?” the astronaut asked in a low voice as if he were trying to be quiet, though Shuichi had no doubt the entire table could hear them. “You guys haven’t said good morning to each other like you usually do.”

_Dammit, Kaito._

Really? He chose _now_ to suddenly be so observant about such a small thing? 

But it was true; since Kaede and Shuichi had already said good morning to each other when they woke up together, they hadn’t done it again, obviously. 

“Ah! Good morning Akamatsu-san!” the detective said hurriedly in his panic, and having clearly heard Kaito’s observation, she returned a frantic good morning of her own.

Apparently satisfied, Kaito grinned and went back to devouring his food. “So, what’s the plan for today? We found out what all that junk yesterday was for and it didn’t help much…are we gonna try the tunnel again, then?”

At the mention of the tunnel, Kaede seemed to cringe a bit, though she still looked up confidently. “No…I don’t think that’s a good idea. I was actually thinking we could do some of those classes I was talking about, if anybody is intereste—“

Before the Ultimate Pianist even had time to finish her suggestion, the Ultimate Aikido Master had excitedly shot up from her seat at the table, as if she had been waiting for the opportunity.

“ _Alright_ , finally! When you’re done eating, all the girls meet me in the courtyard, okay?!” Tenko announced loudly, puffing her chest out with pride. “It’s going to be Tenko’s lesson in how to kick butt, okay?! So be sure not to miss it!”

And with that, having apparently already cleaned her plate (probably in her eagerness to get started), she ran off on her own, leaving the rest of them in stunned silence.

However, Kaede’s stunned expression soon turned into an eager one, clearly happy that someone had actually followed through with her suggestion. Because of this, she quickly got to work inhaling what was left on her plate, and stood up with gusto.

“You heard that, right everyone?” She called out, though by ‘everyone’ it was clear she meant the girls only. As the pianist looked around, she noticed Himiko, who had already finished her food, hiding under her hat by tugging it forward more and trying to slink away unnoticed.

“Yumeno-san, great, you’re done already!” the pianist smiled, knowing _exactly_ what she was doing as she pulled the Ultimate Magician by her arm and out of the dining hall. “The rest of you, catch up with us in the courtyard as soon as you can!”

Himiko’s monotone cries of protest could still be heard down the hall as the blonde dragged her outside.

“I…I’m not sure what’s going to happen if I go to the courtyard,” Tsumugi said nervously, the first to speak up after the three had disappeared from the dining hall. “I’m just plain worried about whether I can handle it…”

“Yeah, seriously, _fuck_ that shit,” Miu scoffed, stabbing her fork into a sausage viciously. “Why do I gotta learn how to fight when I, with my genius, can just invent something that’ll do it _for_ me? That’s the perk of having a golden brain like mine, you idiots! Ever heard of _brains_ over _brawn?_ ”

As the Ultimate Inventor laughed haughtily, pieces of food spewed out of her mouth, and those around her recoiled in disgust.

“That may be true, but I don’t think it’s good to only rely on your inventions,” Keebo informed her seriously, looking down at his hand as he opened and closed it repeatedly. “I know Chabashira-san said her lessons would be for girls only, but as I do not have a sex, I wonder if she would allow me to participate as well…”

“ _Haa?_ ” Miu balked, her outrage now directed at the robot. “If you want to be stronger, just let me get my hands on you! When I’m done with you, you’ll feel better than ever, I promise…”

Ignoring whatever implication she may have intended for her words to have, Keebo pressed on, nonplussed. “No…Like I said, I think it is good to rely on your own strength. Although I only have the strength of a strong senior citizen, I feel it would come in handy if Chabashira-san could teach me moves that perhaps do not rely on strength alone…”

“I…I guess that’s true,” Tsumugi conceded, starting to think about the perks more in depth. “Now that I think about it, I guess I wouldn’t know what to do if someone came at me seriously…and it’d also be nice to know for the future…some guys that come up to me at cons are just plain creepy…”

“But, you no need to worry!” Gonta suddenly piped in with a smile. “Even if some of you no can fight, Gonta will protect you! That what gentleman for!”

“Oh, Gonta-chan,” Kokichi ‘tsk’ed with a smile. “You’re probably the _main_ reason some of us would want to learn how to defend ourselves in the _first_ place, y’know. Nobody would stand a chance against you!”

“But…Gonta no hurt anybody, so it don’t matter if Gonta strongest!” the Ultimate Entomologist reasoned simply, letting Kokichi’s remarks slide off of him easily. Kokichi, however, wasn’t about to let him off with a clear conscious.

“Yeah, but if _you_ decide to murder one of _us_ , nobody could do anything about it because of your monster strength!” the dictator explained happily, achieving the horrified look from Gonta he had no doubt been going for this whole time.

“But, Gonta no hurt anyone!” he countered desperately.

“Even though you’re a girl, I guess it’s plain obvious that you won’t be coming to Chabashira-san’s classes, right, Toujou-san?” Tsumugi asked the maid, as Kokichi and Gonta’s back and forth continued in the background.

“I am very well versed in most forms of fighting and how to defend myself and others, should it be required…However, in the event that Chabashira-san request I join, I shall do so,” the silver haired girl answered pleasantly, pouring a refill of tea into a cup as she spoke.

“ _Nyahaha!_ I wonder If I should go?” Angie pondered, poking her lips with her index finger. “I do have Atua’s divine protection, after all~”

Keebo looked at the Ultimate Artist, unconvinced. “…Like I said, I still think it is important to be able to protect yourself with your own hands…”

Though Angie was already back in her own world, bobbing her head back and forth, presumably as she contemplated on whether to go or not.

Keebo going would certainly be a surprise, but Shuichi still hoped Tenko would allow it. The more people who participated in these ‘classes’ and made them a success, the happier Kaede would no doubt be.

The girls—aside from Maki, who was probably still guarding her lab—had their schedules, but what were the rest of them going to do for the day? He supposed there was no rule stating they _had_ to do anything, and the detective did say he had been looking forward to just relaxing today…

Especially considering he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

He didn’t have long to ponder it, however. As Kirumi began collecting empty dishes and some of the girls started clearing out of the room, Kaito approached him, a slight smile on his face.

“Yo, Saihara. Meet me in front of Hoshi’s lab when you’re ready, alright?” the astronaut said to him quietly, though Shuichi didn’t miss the grin on his face. He didn’t even have time to give an answer before Kaito strode past him, exiting the dining hall first.

Well, apparently Shuichi already had his plans for the day.

_…So much for relaxing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAAH!! it's finished!! its really finished!! between writing it and editing it and then having to look over it some more before posting it, im so done!! chapter full of nothing but fluff and sexual tension/frustruation!! LOL. I had so much fun writing the outline and what was gonna happen, but man, this chapter took me the longest to write and i dunno why. THough it IS super fun writing shuichi's dialogue when hes too in his own head about Kaede kekeke you poor sweet boy. 
> 
> I usually listen to the ndrv3 investigation music on repeat when writing chapters....hmmm....maybe i should have listened to the sexytime music from austin powers instead to make me write faster for this chapter...amyway i probably wanted to say something important here originally but i forget. hope u enjoyed shuichis suffering as much as i did and still do!!


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